Hinting at election loss, Trump predicts COVID vaccine ready in April
Washington: Donald Trump has publicly acknowledged that he may no longer be President from inauguration day on January 20 while still showing no sign of conceding defeat to President-elect Joe Biden.
Trump appeared in the White House Rose Garden for his first press conference in over a week on Saturday (AEDT) - his first briefing since US media outlets declared Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Trump spoke about the development of a coronavirus vaccine, which he expected would be available to the general population as soon as April.
Trump said his administration would not pursue a lockdown of the economy, adding: "Whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be. I guess time will tell. I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown."
Unusually, Trump did not take any questions from reporters.
Earlier in the day several US media outlets declared Biden the winner of Georgia, which puts the president-elect on 306 Electoral College votes - the same number Trump achieved in 2016.
Trump said it would have taken five years for an effective COVID-19 vaccine to be developed under another administration, after Pfizer announced early results that its trial vaccine was 90 per cent effective.
US President Donald Trump gives a press conference on Operation Warp Speed, his coronavirus vaccine fast-tracking project.Credit:AP
More to come.
Matthew Knott is North America correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.