Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany appears to admit that Joe Biden will be president

Kayleigh McEnany has until now stuck to the line that the legal process must be allowed to play out

Kayleigh McEnany on Sunday let slip that Joe Biden will be president in January (Getty)

Donald Trump's press secretary has appeared to concede for the first time that Joe Biden has won the election, more than a month after the vote.

Kayleigh McEnany has vehemently refused to accept that Mr Biden will assume the presidency on 20 January, insisting that the election is still to be decided, in the courts.

Yet on Sunday she gave a tacit admission that Mr Biden will be president, and Kamala Harris his vice president.  

Asked about the 5 January run-off in Georgia, which will decide who controls the senate, Ms McEnany said the future of the country was at stake.

"If we lose these two Senate seats, guess who’s casting the deciding vote in this country for our government?" she told Fox News.  

"It will be Kamala Harris."

At the moment Mike Pence, as vice president, casts the deciding vote if the senate is tied.

Ms McEnany has insisted that the legal battles should be allowed to play out, and that it was wrong to declare the winner until all options have been exhausted.

The electors will gather in their states on 10 December to officially approve the candidate their state has chosen, and award their electoral college votes to that person.

Asked on 20 November when Mr Trump would concede, she replied: "I will leave it to the campaign on how to proceed but the president has made it very clear that he wants every vote to be counted and no illegal votes to be counted.

“There are very real claims out there that the campaign is pursuing.

“These claims deserve to be pursued.  

“We will wait for that litigation to play out.”

Mr Trump's stubborn refusal to accept the vote has been met with support from most Republicans, even though many have privately congratulated Mr Biden.

Only 27 of 249 Republicans in Congress have acknowledged Mr Biden’s victory, according to the Washington Post.