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US President Donald Trump doubled down on his claims that the electoral process was fraudulent Thursday night when Democrat Joe Biden appeared to be a distance from winning the electoral college.
At a press conference at the White House, the president claimed: “If legal votes count, I win easily, if illegal votes count, they can try to steal the election from us.”
US President Donald Trump speaks in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images
Denouncing the mail-in ballots, which have been used by millions of Americans in this election, as “corrupt,” he said that the voting apparatus in the states where counting continues “is run by Democrats.”
“We were winning,” he said, “and our numbers miraculously began to shrink in secret.”
His comments came as Biden appeared to be closing in on victory last night. As expected, Biden’s lead increased when mail-in ballots began to be counted in recent days, while Trump performed better with in-person voting on Election Day.
Arguing that he won “decisively” many critical states like Florida and Iowa, he said pollsters were “knowingly” wrong, creating the illusion of momentum for Biden.
“We believe that we will win the elections very easily. We believe there will be a lot of litigation, ”he said, predicting that the election will end in the Supreme Court.
“We cannot allow an election like this to be stolen from us,” he said. “It’s not a question of who wins, the Republicans, the Democrats, Joe himself. We cannot allow this to happen to our country ”.
“There have been a lot of shenanigans and we can’t let that continue in our country,” he said.
I ask people to stay calm.
The process is working.
The count is being completed.– Joe Biden (@JoeBiden)
November 5, 2020
Earlier, his son Donald Trump junior criticized members of the Republican party for not defending his father, tweeting that the best outcome for the country would be for the president to declare a “total war” on the election. His comments were censored by Twitter.
Pennsylvania
As the count continued throughout Thursday, Biden gradually eroded the president’s tracks in Georgia and Pennsylvania, two states that could determine the outcome of the election.
The Trump campaign was still hopeful that the president could win in Nevada and Arizona, but even if he won both, Trump would have to win Georgia and Pennsylvania as well. In contrast, Biden had several paths open to victory Thursday night. Winning Pennsylvania alone, for example, would secure you the White House.
Ahead of his unscheduled press conference last night, Trump vowed to fight the election result, making unsubstantiated claims of fraud and calling for the counting of votes to be stopped. This is despite the fact that two of the legal challenges mounted by his campaign since Election Day in Michigan and Georgia were dismissed by the judges yesterday. dismissed by the judges on Thursday.
However, the president’s defiant stance of challenging election results in various states means the contest could drag on, even if Biden gets the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the election.
‘Vow is sacred’
Speaking in Delaware on Thursday after a briefing on the coronavirus, Biden made a note of confidence on his behalf and his running mate Kamala Harris, asking for patience while all votes are counted.
“We have no doubt that when the count is over, Senator Harris and I will be declared the winners.” But he added: “In the United States, the vote is sacred. This is how the people of this nation express their will. It is the will of the voters, no one, nothing else, that elects the president of the United States of America. Therefore, every ballot must be counted. “
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks as US Senator and vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris looks on at Queen’s headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 5. Photograph: Jim Watson / AFP via Getty
“Democracy is sometimes complicated, sometimes it also requires a little patience.”
As the presidential election was reduced to a few close races in key states on the battlefield, the total number of Americans who participated in the elections broke records. More than 72 million voted for Biden, a record number for a presidential candidate. But more than 68 million people voted for Trump, five million more than in 2016, underscoring the enduring popularity of the controversial US president.
Counting is scheduled to continue in Nevada and Arizona on Friday. In Nevada, Clark County Recorder Joe Gloria said most of the postal ballots received in the state’s largest county, which spans Las Vegas, will be counted by this weekend, although technically the state you can continue to receive ballots until next Tuesday.
Agitation
Arizona was due to release new results Thursday night, while the count in Pennsylvania was to resume on Friday, and Allegheny County paused the count Thursday.
Speaking in Atlanta, elections official Gabriel Sterling emphasized that margins were narrow in the state. “These closed elections require us to be diligent and make sure we do everything right. We’re going to make sure every legal ballot is counted, ”he said as votes continued to be tabulated in the counties around urban Atlanta and Savannah.
With the United States on the knife’s edge as it awaited an election result, isolated incidents of unrest developed across the country. Trump supporters gathered in front of major counting centers in Maricopa County, Arizona and Detroit, Michigan.
Police also made arrests in Oregon, Minnesota and New York amid demonstrations calling for all votes to be counted.
Members of the Trump campaign went on to hold a series of press conferences in various battle states, including Nevada and Pennsylvania, in which they outlined their efforts to challenge voting practices in various districts through the courts.
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