Trump Plans to Declare Victory on Election Day

Axios, "President Trump Directly Mentioned It to Close Associates"
First Time Trump Has Been Directly Referenced
Possible Preemptive Response Ahead of Mail-In Ballot Counting

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Reports have emerged that U.S. President Donald Trump plans to declare victory on Election Day, November 3. This means that if early in the vote count, including in-person and early voting, he appears to be leading, he intends to declare victory regardless of whether the counting of mail-in ballots is complete.

The U.S. internet media Axios cited sources on the 1st (local time), reporting that President Trump recently told close aides that if results on the evening of the 3rd show him ahead, he will immediately declare victory.

Axios explained that this plan is a decision made considering that the key battleground state of Pennsylvania will accept mail-in ballots even after Election Day. The strategy is to declare victory before Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballot results are finalized and to cast doubt on the mail-in ballots as fraudulent.

Pennsylvania cannot begin counting mail-in ballots until after the election ends, so the counting is expected to take a considerable amount of time.

Axios reported that while Trump’s aides have considered this situation, it is the first time President Trump himself has directly mentioned it.

Earlier, U.S. media reported that President Trump had planned a victory celebration at his Trump International Hotel in Washington DC on Election Day evening but canceled it.

On the same day, Steven Miller, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said in an interview with ABC News that he expected President Trump to secure 290 electoral votes on Election Day. The number of electoral votes needed to win the U.S. presidential election is 270.

Of course, this figure does not reflect the tally of mail-in ballots. Miller also emphasized that "lawsuits the Democrats might file are nonsense."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.