Staff ReporterDonald Trump will say he will “pray for the success” of Joe Biden’s administration in his farewell address later but that the political movement he created “is only just beginning”.
The video address was released on the White House YouTube account, a day ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
In the video, Trump says, “This week, we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous.”
Trump also addressed the storming of the Capitol building by his supporters after he directed them to “fight” the election results showing he lost.
He said that “all Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol” and that “political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans” and “can never be tolerated.”
Trump also trumpeted what he sees as his top achievements in office, including efforts to normalize relations in the Middle East.
He said: “We did what we came here to do – and so much more.”
Trump won’t attend Biden’s inauguration, the first outgoing president to skip the ceremony since Andrew Johnson more than a century and a half ago. Trump remained out of sight in the White House on Tuesday with a bare announced schedule.
Trump plans to depart from Washington Wednesday morning in a grand airbase ceremony that he helped plan himself.