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Former President Donald Trump claimed victory in the House on Friday while several districts have yet to finish their ballot count.
Trump encouraged supporters to "stand on the rooftops and shout it out loud!" in a Truth Social post on Friday morning, adding that "Pelosi is gone." At the time of the post, The New York Times reported that Republicans had secured 211 seats out of the 218 needed to have a majority in the House, with Democrat Nancy Pelosi still House Speaker.
The former president added that Republicans had a chance to take control of the Senate, as well, "if we can stop their very obvious CHEATING." Trump has posted several times claiming that the ongoing ballot counts in the Arizona and Nevada races—which will likely determine the control of the Senate—are signs of voter fraud and incompetency in election officials.
Trump's closest family members and political confidants, however, have largely stayed quiet since Wednesday. Donald Trump Jr. was extremely active on Twitter during Election Day, mainly focusing on rallying "Arizona patriots" to the polls.
But the former president's eldest son has gone silent since Republicans experienced several surprising losses in the midterms—other than sparking outrage on Twitter over a meme he posted about Pennsylvania's Senator-elect John Fetterman.
Lara Trump, the wife of the former president's son, Eric Trump, told voters during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News to be "patient" as votes were still being counted.
"Well it's very frustrating, I think, to wake up the day after and still not really know exactly where we stand," Trump said in the segment. "I think that's why a lot of people say maybe we need to take a look at how we vote in this country and figure out a better way to do it."
The 45th president played a major role in this year's election, endorsing over 300 Republicans across all levels of government. Trump-backed nominees fared well in their GOP primaries earlier in the year thanks to the MAGA support, including Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, who the former president rallied for on the eve of Election Night. Both Trump Jr. and Lara Trump were also in attendance at the "Save America" rally in Dayton, Ohio, alongside Eric.
However, a large number of Trump-backed candidates had already lost their races as early as Wednesday morning, Newsweek previously reported.
In an interview with NewsNation on Monday, Trump told reporters that he should "get all the credit" if his candidates win their elections, but added that he should "not be blamed at all" if they lose.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's press team for comment.
About the writer
Kaitlin Lewis is a Newsweek reporter on the Night Team based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her focus is reporting on national ... Read more