DONALD TRUMP accepted that a formal transition should begin for the next president to take office today after weeks of refusing to concede, but promised to continue “the good fight.”

It came after President Trump suffered further legal and procedural defeats in his attempts to overturn the results with baseless claims of fraud and vote-rigging. 

General Services Administration official Emily Murphy gave the green light for President-elect Joe Biden on Monday to co-ordinate with federal agencies ahead of his January 20 inauguration. 

Mr Trump tweeted: “We will keep up the good fight and I believe we will prevail! 

“Nevertheless, in the best interest of our country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.”

The acceptance also followed an increasing number of Republicans publicly acknowledging Mr Biden’s victory.

Senior aides to the president, including chief of staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone, had also encouraged him in recent days to allow the transition to begin.

They told him that he did not need to concede but could no longer justify withholding support to the transition.

Mr Meadows sent a memo to White House staffers on Monday, saying that their work was not yet finished and that the administration would “comply with all actions needed to ensure the smooth transfer of power,” according to a person who received it.

Yohannes Abraham, executive director of the Biden transition, said that the decision “is a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track.”