--- title: Presidential Debate: Donald Trump Won't Say If He'll Concede description: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump refused to say whether or not he will accept the outcome of the election at the final debate. canonical: https://time.com/4537908/donald-trump-election-results/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-20T04:09:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:27.062Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Refuses to Say Whether He'll Accept Election Results og:description: At the final presidential debate. og:url: https://time.com/4537908/donald-trump-election-results/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c0b699c590ad39e/6988aac697cdffede06ae3e3/presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-20.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4814 og:image:height: 2708 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Debate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Refuses to Say Whether He'll Accept Election Results twitter:description: At the final presidential debate. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c0b699c590ad39e/6988aac697cdffede06ae3e3/presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-20.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Refuses to Say Whether He'll Accept Election Results > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 20, 2016 4:09 AM UTC  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at the third and final debate with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Las Vegas on Oct. 19, 2016. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at the third and final debate with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Las Vegas on Oct. 19, 2016. Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 20, 2016 4:09 AM UTC Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump refused to say whether or not he will accept the outcome of the election at the final debate. “I will look at it at the time. I’m not looking at anything now,” Trump told moderator Chris Wallace. “I’ll keep you in suspense.” In recent days, Trump has argued that the media, Hillary Clinton’s campaign and election officials may be conspiring to rig the election against him, even as [House Speaker Paul Ryan](http://time.com/4532520/paul-ryan-donald-trumps-rigged-election/), [Florida Sen. Marco Rubio](http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/18/politics/marco-rubio-trump-rigged-election-senate-debate/) and [numerous election officials and experts](http://time.com/4535364/donald-trump-rigged-election-fact-check/) have argued that is not the case. Trump’s own team has also tried to walk back the “rigged election” line. His running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said the campaign will “absolutely accept the result of the election” during an interview with NBC’s [_Meet the Press_ ](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/pence-promises-to-accept-results-but-calls-election-rigged-786977859619)on Sunday. Earlier on Wednesday Trump’s daughter Ivanka told TIME’s Nancy Gibbs that her father would “[do the right thing](http://time.com/4537094/ivanka-trump-donald-trump-election-interview/)” once the results of the election are posted. Clinton passionately rebuked Trump’s statements, piggybacking off of President Obama’s comment that the Republican nominee is “[whining](http://time.com/4535623/president-obama-donald-trump-stop-whining-transcript/)” about the election before the votes have been counted. “Every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction his claims its rigged against him,” she said, pointing to tweets the nominee sent out after his former reality television show _The Apprentice_ [failed to win an Emmy](http://time.com/4537809/donald-trump-emmy-awards-debate/). “Let’s be clear about what he is saying,” she said. “He is talking down our democracy.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4537908/donald-trump-election-results/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4537908/donald-trump-election-results/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Refuses to Say Whether He'll Accept Election Results","datePublished":"2016-10-20T04:09:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:27.062Z","description":"Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump refused to say whether or not he will accept the outcome of the election at the final debate.","url":"https://time.com/4537908/donald-trump-election-results/","keywords":["Debates","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Voting","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c0b699c590ad39e/6988aac697cdffede06ae3e3/presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-20.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c0b699c590ad39e/6988aac697cdffede06ae3e3/presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-20.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL Debate","caption":"Final Presidential Debate Between Hillary Clinton And Donald Trump Held In Las Vegas","creditText":"Joe Raedle—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4537908/donald-trump-election-results/","name":"Donald Trump Refuses to Say Whether He'll Accept Election Results"}}]}] ```