WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump is testing how far he can go to use presidential power pockets to undermine confidence in this week’s election against Biden, as Democrats have found themselves in fierce rivalries in some of the war-torn states.
Seemingly narrowing his path to re-election, Trump on Thursday falsified unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud by arguing that his rival was trying to seize power. Extraordinary efforts were made by the American president to cast doubt on the democratic process.
“This is a case when they are trying to steal the election, they are trying to fight the election,” Trump said from the podium of the White House briefing room.
The president’s remarks sent shockwaves through the U.S. Concerns are mounting as Americans enter the third full day after the election without knowing who will serve as president for the next four years. His remarks will also reprimand some Republicans, especially those who want to run the party in a different direction in the post-Trump era.
No candidate has reached the 270 electoral college votes required to win the White House. But Biden had embraced Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan, the two decisive battle states in the Midwestern, and moved closer to leaving the president behind in Pennsylvania and Georgia, where votes were still being counted.
It was unclear when the national winner would be determined after a long and bitter campaign dominated by the coronavirus and its impact on Americans and the national economy. The U.S. set another record for daily confirmed cases on Wednesday, as many states posted all-time highs. The epidemic has killed more than 233,000 people in the United States.
Biden on Thursday sought to ease tensions and project a more traditional image of presidential leadership. After attending the coronavirus briefing, he declared that “every ballot must be counted.”
“I urge everyone to remain calm. The process is working, ”Biden said. “It simply came to our notice then. None other than the President of the United States of America. ”
Biden’s victory in the Upper Midwest put him in a strong position, but Trump showed no sign of losing. At 2:30 a.m. Friday, he was back on Twitter, “The U.S. Supreme Court should rule!”
It may take several more days for the vote count to be completed and a clear winner to emerge. Although millions of ballots are still tabulated, Biden has already received more than 73 million votes, the highest in history.
Republicans have now challenged Trump’s false claims about the integrity of the election whether he breaks with the president or not, despite a tight grip on his office fees, ordering sky-high approval ratings of GOP’s rank-and-file members Giving .
A potential presidential hopeful in 2024 is the Maryland G.O.P. The government has repeatedly criticized Trump over Larry Hogg, saying: “There is no defense today for the President’s remarks undermining our nationalist process. America is counting the votes, and we must respect the results as we always should. “
But others who are rumored to be considering their own decade in the White House in four years are Sen. Josh Haley Lee, R-Mo. Will join officials, including, who tweeted in support of Trump’s claim: “If anything has been made clear in the last 24 hours, it is that now we need a new election integrity law. ”
Trump’s campaign to try to improve the Republican president’s chances has been linked to a flurry of legal activity, a request for a recount in Wisconsin and the filing of lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.
Judges in Georgia and Michigan quickly dismissed Trump campaign lawsuits there on Thursday.
Trump had a small edge in Georgia, although Biden was winning over him as the vote count continued. The same thing happened in Pennsylvania, where Trump’s lead slipped to nearly 22,000 votes – and the race is about to get tougher.
One reason is that election officials were not allowed to process mail-in ballots until election day under state law. It’s a form of voting that has weighed heavily in Biden’s favor, months after Trump claimed without evidence that voting by mail would deceive widespread voters.
Mail ballets from across the state were heavily broken in Biden’s direction. The final vote may not be clear for a total of days as the use of mail-in ballet, which takes longer to process, has increased as a result of the coronavirus epidemic.
Trump said in the campaign that he is confident the president will eventually pull off a victory in Arizona, where votes are also being counted, including in the state’s most populous area, Maricopa County. The APA declared Biden the winner in Arizona and said Thursday it was keeping an eye on the vote count going forward.
A.P. “The Associated Press continues to look at and analyze the results of the Arizona vote count,” said Sally Buzzby, executive editor of Arizona. “We will abide by the facts in all cases.”
Trump’s campaign was posing legal challenges in some states, although they faced long hurdles. It will have to win multiple suits in multiple states to prevent vote counts, as more than one state is undeclared.
Some of the Trump team’s lawsuits simply demand better access for campaign observers in places where ballots are being processed and counted. A Georgia judge dismissed the campaign claim less than 12 hours later. And a Michigan judge dismissed Trump’s claim that there was not enough G.O.P.
Biden attorney Bob Bower said the suits are legally “appropriate.” He said his sole purpose was to “create an opportunity to misrepresent what is happening in the election process.”
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Wizert report from Williston, Delaware. Associated Press writers in Washington Jill Colvin, Colin Long and Alexandra Jaffe contributed to this report.
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