US Election 2020: Trump claims he’s WON and says Biden is ‘stealing’ the election despite count not being in
DONALD Trump has sensationally said he won the race to the White House and accused Joe Biden of “stealing” the election.
In a dramatic TV address, the President appeared to claim victory and railed against ‘major voter fraud’ despite no evidence to support the claim and not all of the ballots even being counted.
Speaking early this morning, the President said: “This is a fraud on the American public, this is an embarrassment to our country.
“We were getting ready to win this election – frankly we did win this election.
“So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation.
“We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we will be going to the US Supreme Court, we want all voting to stop.”
Biden’s team furiously hit back saying Trump’s speech was “outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect”.
The Democrat candidate’s camp said in a statement his team was ready to challenge the president over his unsubstantiated claims.
They said: “If the president makes good on this threat to go to court to try to prevent the proper tabulation of votes, we have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort. And they will prevail.”
In Trump’s earlier speech, he went on to claim victories in the crucial Rust Belt states that could see him clinch the 270 electoral seats to keep him in the White House.
Should Trump and Biden take the states they are expected to win then the race could come down to Pennsylvania and the result may be days or even weeks away.
He added: “Most importantly, we are winning Pennsylvania by a tremendous amount.
“Arizona, we have a lot of life in that. As far as I’m concerned, we already have won.”
Shortly after, Biden secured victory in Arizona – inching the former Vice President 11 electoral votes closer to 270.
His speech came hours after he tweeted wild claims the Democrats were trying to “steal” the election.
The president’s tweet, which was flagged by Twitter as misleading, read: “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it.”
“Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!”
Facebook has also added labels to social media posts by both candidates explaining that votes are still being counted.
The President has also sensationally claimed victory of several key states such as Georgia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina when they have not finished counting their votes.
Several states – including Pennsylvania – are allowing mail-in votes to be accepted after Election Day.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said “there was no basis” for Trump’s claims.
The Republican, who ran against Trump in 2016, said: “There’s just no basis to make that argument tonight – there just isn’t.”
New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted: “Donald Trump’s premature claims of victory are illegitimate, dangerous, and authoritarian. Count the votes. Respect the results.”
And Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeted: “The irony of worrying about people turning America into Somalia, while allowing Trump to do literally what Somali dictators used to do.
“Wake up, he is destroying everything that sets us apart. We send election observers into other countries, we shouldn’t need ours monitored.”
Rick Santorum, a former Republican Senator from Pennsylvania, said he was “very distressed” by Trump’s comments.
He said: “Using the word fraud…I think is wrong.”
Ben Shapiro, a conservative commentator and critic of Trump, tweeted calling the comments “deeply irresponsible”.
Key quotes from Trump’s address
DONALD Trump made an extraordinary address to the nation as he appeared to declare victory and suggest he will fight the election result in the Supreme Court
- “Millions and millions of people voted for us tonight and a very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people, and we won’t stand for it.”
- “We were winning everything, and all of a sudden it was just called off. “
- “The citizens of this country have come out in record numbers, this is a record, there’s never been anything like it, to support our incredible movement.”
- “We won states that we weren’t expected to win. Florida—we didn’t win it, we won it by a lot.”
- “They knew they couldn’t win so they said let’s go to court. And did I predict this, did I say this?”
- “We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. So our goal now is to ensure the integrity, for the good of this nation.”
- “We want the law to be used in a proper manner, so we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.”
- “To me, this is a very sad moment. And we will win this. As far as I’m concerned, we already have won it .”
As it stands, the heated contest could come down to the key Rust Belt states that Trump won in 2016: Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. If either candidate wins any two of these three states then they will take the White House.
Overnight Biden failed to deliver a knockout blow by winning key states that paved a clear path to the presidency and yet again Trump defied the opinion pollsters to deliver an election night upset.
Speaking in Delaware early this morning alongside his wife Jill, Biden said: “We feel good about where we are. We feel we are on track to win this election.
“It ain’t over until every vote is counted.
“We’re feeling real good about Wisconsin and Michigan. We’re going to win Pennsylvania.”
He thanked his supporters telling them to “keep the faith.”
Trump won Florida early on and despite initial indications of possible shock wins for Biden in red states, the Democrat’s lead was eaten away during the evening as more votes were counted – leaving the election on a knife edge.
The Republican firebrand then won Ohio and Texas for a combined 56 electoral votes.
Should Trump and Biden take the states they are expected to win then the race could come down to Pennsylvania and the result may be days or even weeks away.
Trump is currently ahead in Pennsylvania, but only 75 per cent of votes have been tallied.
As of Wednesday morning, 1.4million or 56 per cent of mail-in ballots for the state had not yet been counted or the totals had not been published yet.
The ballots that are left to be counted are coming from four of Philadelphia’s suburbs – a region that is predicted to swing towards Biden.
In 2016, Trump won the election with 306 electoral votes, meaning Biden will need to take back at least three sizable swing states to put him over the 270 mark.
