Fox News’ Chris Wallace uncertain whether Trump will ‘ever... concede’

‘So far, every case of substance has been thrown out,’ anchor notes

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace has expressed uncertainty about whether Donald Trump would ever concede to President-elect Joe Biden, as the president continues pushing claims of voter fraud that have so far been universally rejected in the US court system.

“Well, I don't think we're going to see a presidential concession,” Mr Wallace, who moderated the chaotic first debate between Mr Trump and Mr Biden, said at a virtual gala on Tuesday where the nonprofit Poynter Institute presented him with its lifetime achievement award.

“I think he clearly is going to pursue all of his legal cases. And as a reporter and I hope a fair one, we have to be open to the possibility that he will find something, and his team will find something serious,” Mr Wallace said.

The Fox News anchor has been a target of criticism from the Trump administration for his tough interview of the president about the coronavirus pandemic this summer.

In a 19 October letter to the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien claimed Mr Trump won the first debate “over moderator Chris Wallace and candidate Joe Biden,” and accused the Fox News reporter of “[styling] himself as a third combatant on stage with almost all his venom directed at President Trump.”

Mr Wallace has indicated the president is within his rights to pursue legal cases to toss out votes if he can prove they were fraudulently cast or manipulated at ballot-counting facilities.

To date, the Trump campaign has not provided any such evidence in court.

“You've got to find serious fraud and you have to find fraud of a dimension that even if it's true, it would actually flip the election,” Mr Wallace said on Tuesday at during his remarks.

“I will say, so far, every case of substance has been thrown out. … I don't think you'll see the president concede in the next two weeks. I'm not sure you'll ever see him concede. I hope at a certain point, though, that if he doesn't come up with the goods, that either he or the people around him will move on and we'll have a more normal transition,” the Fox News host said.

The Trump campaign has gone 0 for 5 so far in its lawsuits attempting to discount vote totals in several key swing states that have been called in Mr Biden’s favour.

Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill have echoed the president’s baseless claims of alleged fraud or, in the case of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, sought to portray Mr Trump’s legal actions and false claims that he has won the presidency as “not unusual.”

The effects of Republicans’ public advocacy campaign are quickly becoming apparent: Large percentages of Americans — Republican voters, mostly — are losing faith in the integrity of the US elections as a result of the president’s posturing and the decision by other Republicans such as Mr McConnell not to repudiate his claims, new polling has found.

Mr Trump has not publicly addressed the nation or faced media questions about his claims of voter fraud since last week, before news networks projected Mr Biden had defeated him.

Shortly before leaving for Arlington National Cemetery for a Veterans Day memorial service on Wednesday, Mr Trump fired off a series of tweets concerning unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in Philadelphia, the city whose overwhelming support for Mr Biden helped Pennsylvania deliver the president-elect his Electoral College victory on Saturday.

He also tweeted about an ABC News/Washington Post poll that was released prior to Election Day, which showed him 17 points behind Mr Biden in Wisconsin.

Mr Trump falsely claimed he had won the state — which news networks have called for Mr Biden — and said the poll fell under the category of “voter suppression,” a spin that dubiously stretches the limits of the phrase.