Newsmax CEO says Trump should concede election once all states have certified their results

The CEO of conservative multimedia platform Newsmax Media, which has supported Donald Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud, now says that the president should concede the election once all states have certified their results.

Although President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election earlier this month, Mr Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that widespread voter fraud took place.

President Trump and his campaign team have filed lawsuits in multiple swing states that were called for Mr Biden, pressing state and local authorities not to certify the election results.

In an interview with The New Yorker on Tuesday, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy discussed the network’s support of Mr Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud.

Newsmax has grown in popularity among conservative viewers over the last few weeks, after the media outlet supported the president’s claims of voter fraud, and many Trump supporters turned against Fox News, citing favourable coverage for Mr Biden.

However, when asked if Newsmax would support Mr Trump attempting to overturn the election results, Mr Ruddy said that it would not.

“I do think that Donald Trump should concede when the certifications come in,” he said, adding that he “would not support going to state legislators to overturn the electors”.

Pennsylvania became the latest state to certify its election results on Tuesday, but Wisconisn and Arizona are not expected to confirm until the end of the month.

A spokesperson for Newsmax told Newsweek on Tuesday that the media outlet will call states that Mr Trump has claimed were affected by voter fraud, once they have been certified.

“The position of Newsmax and Mr Ruddy is that this was an extremely close election, of one per cent or less in five states, in which the President is challenging the result and asking for a recount.

“We think he's entitled to that, and should be allowed to have it. We have repeatedly said we will call the winner of those states based on the certifications after the recounts,” Anthony Rizzo, of Newsmax, said.

Although the Trump campaign and its allies have seen more than 30 lawsuits fail in swing states, including Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan, Mr Ruddy defended Newsmax’s support of voter fraud claims.

“I think that the questioning of ballots, and taking that to court, is just as reasonable as when Al Gore did it in the 2000 election.

“I think the mail-in ballots opened up potential for voter fraud and manipulation beyond what we've seen in previous years. And that's, I think, the crux of the problem, and why Republicans feel this election was 'stolen,'” he told The New Yorker on Tuesday.

President Trump repeatedly falsely claimed that an increase in voting by mail would lead to widespread fraud. There is no evidence to support claims that this occurred during 3 November’s election.

Mr Ruddy added that if “Biden won by the numbers that we were told that he was going to win by, Donald Trump would not have had much of an argument to claim voter fraud.”

This year’s presidential election was much closer than many polls predicted, but Mr Biden still defeated Mr Trump by a large margin of 306 electoral college votes to 232.

President Trump seemed to soften his stance on the election on Monday evening, as he accepted that a formal transition for Mr Biden to take office should begin. He still did not concede.

After the General Services Administration (GSA) acknowledged Mr Biden as the “apparent winner” of the presidential election, Mr Trump said that the agency must “do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols”.

However, on Tuesday, Mr Trump tweeted: “Remember, the GSA has been terrific, and Emily Murphy has done a great job, but the GSA does not determine who the next President of the United States will be.”