Former Trump adviser, Kellyanne Conway, admits Joe Biden won the election

Kellyanne Conway concedes that Joe Biden won the election

Credit: Susan Walsh/AP

Former White House counsellor, Kellyanne Conway, has acknowledged that Joe Biden won last month’s presidential election.

“If you look at the vote totals in the Electoral College tally, it looks like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will prevail," she said in an interview with The 19th, a non-partisan political website.

"I assume the electors will certify that and it will be official. We, as a nation, will move forward, because we always do.”

While she defended Mr Trump’s right to exhaust "all legal avenues", Ms Conway appealed for a smooth transition.

“You always need a peaceful transfer of democracy, no matter whose administration goes into whose administration,” she added. "We want the engines of government to keep going.”

Electoral college and popular votes in US presidential elections

While several senior Republicans have accepted the result, Ms Conway who managed Donald Trump’s successful 2016 campaign, is the closest presidential ally to have done so.

Mr Trump and his campaign are continuing to contest the result in the courts claiming that the election was "rigged"  — a view which has thus far been rejected by more than 30 judges.

Bill Barr, the Attorney General, also poured cold water on Mr Trump’s allegations saying that the Justice Department had failed to find evidence of significant voter fraud.