By Clare Roth and Jordan Fabian
President Donald Trump waved from his motorcade at hundreds of flag-waving supporters chanting “four more years” on Saturday, as he continues to refuse to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden.
Trump had suggested in a tweet on Friday that he “may even try to stop by” the demonstrators, who are holding a rally in downtown Washington followed by a march to the Supreme Court.
The president smiled as his vehicle did a slow loop around Freedom Plaza, a few blocks from the White House, on a cool, sunny morning before heading west to Virginia, arriving at the Trump National Golf Club around 10:45 a.m.
Trump has continued to assert on Twitter, without evidence, that the November 3 election was rigged for Biden, even as a series of lawsuits challenging elements of the vote have been thwarted.
On Saturday, he criticized Georgia election officials for the way a recount of votes in that state is being conducted.
Saturday’s rally, billed as the “Million MAGA March,” comes one week after news organizations projected Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.
Trump and his allies have argued the contest was tainted by widespread voter fraud. There’s no evidence that fraud affected the results and U.S. officials on Thursday called the election “the most secure in American history.”
Nonetheless, groups of Trump supporters are expected to gather for speeches by conservative lawmakers and critics, and perhaps a final performance of “Y.M.C.A.,” the president’s walk-off song from his pre-election rallies.
Several pro-Trump groups have posted online about the event and far-right figures, such as Alex Jones of Infowars, have also encouraged their followers to attend.
Few counter-protesters were seen Saturday as Trump’s motorcade snaked through downtown.
Trump has been largely out of public view since election night. On Friday, delivered his first public remarks in more than a week during a Rose Garden appearance focused on coronavirus vaccine development.
Prior to that Trump last spoke on November 5, when he insisted that he would “easily win” if “you count all the legal votes.” He attended a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony on Wednesday but didn’t speak.