Trump's bogus voter fraud accusations are mainly to give him an excuse for a loss he 'can't grasp', say allies

• President Donald Trump has continued to falsely claim that he is the rightful winner of the 2020 election, and that Joe Biden only triumphed because of voter fraud.
• The president and his allies have struggled to substantiate the allegations, and Biden is moving ahead as president-elect.
• According to Trump allies who spoke to the Associated Press, the claims are meant to be an "off ramp" so Trump can leave office but still appease his core supporters.
• Trump's team is split between those who believe he should concede defeat, and others, such as Rudy Giuliani, urging him to keep trying to discredit the results.

President Donald Trump's baseless accusations he lost the 2020 presidential election due to voter fraud are essentially cover to help him save face, allies of the president told The Associated Press (AP).

Unnamed sources cited by the AP described the claims as an "off ramp" for a loss he "can't quite grasp."

Trump has refused to concede victory to President-elect Joe Biden, despite every major news outlet calling the contest in Biden's favor.

World leaders are lining up to congratulate Biden, but the president and a group of allies led by Rudy Giuliani have continued to claim that the election result was tainted by mail-in ballot fraud.

They have struggled to provide evidence to substantiate the claim. According to the AP's sources, that doesn't necessarily matter.

The sources told the outlet that a series of lawsuits launched by the Trump campaign seeking to stall or dispute vote counts would, at best, "forestall the inevitable."

"They said Trump and a core group of loyalists were aiming to keep his base of supporters on his side even in defeat," reported the AP.

According to some reports, a rift has opened up between people close to the president.

—Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 9, 2020

Over the weekend sources close to Trump told media outlets that Trump was unlikely to ever concede in the traditional way — congratulating Biden in a phone call and appealing for unity in a concession speech.

Under the US Constitution, the incumbent's concession is not a requirement for the new president to be sworn in, and Trump will lose his presidential powers on January 20, 2021, at midday.