Trump calls on Roy Moore to concede in Alabama senate race
- President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore should concede to Democratic opponent Doug Jones.
- Moore has refused to concede and has said he will wait for all votes to be counted.
- Trump has congratulated Jones on his victory and even invited him to the White House.
President Donald Trump told reporters outside of the White House on Friday that he thinks Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore should concede.
"We need the seat. We'd like to have the seat. But as far as Roy Moore, I would certainly say he should" concede, Trump said.
Moore has refused to concede Alabama's special election to his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, despite preliminary results showing Jones leading by more than 21,000 votes.
"Realize when the vote is this close, it's not over," Moore told supporters in a speech late Tuesday night. "And we still got to go by the rules about this recount provision. ... It's not over, and it's going to take some time."
Moore doubled down on his refusal to concede on Wednesday night in a YouTube video. He vowed to wait until all the votes are counted. In a tweet on Tuesday, Trump congratulated Jones on his victory. He also called the senator-elect and invited him to visit the White House.
When asked whether Moore should resign during a press briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president's outreach to Jones speaks for itself.
"He likes Doug Jones and looks forward to meeting him in person. and hopes that he will come and follow through on his commitment to work with the president on some things that they agree on," she said.
Over the coming days, each of Alabama's 67 counties will process the remaining write-in votes and provisional and military ballots from overseas. The results will be certified sometime between December 26 and January 3.