US election 2020: Donald Trump claims he won US election ‘by a lot’ as Biden victory near
As America awaits an election result, Donald Trump has gone golfing, falsely claiming on Twitter he “won” while Joe Biden edges closer to the White House.
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US President Donald Trump left the White House on Saturday (local time) for the first time since Election Day, heading to his golf club in suburban Virginia as the vote count dragged on with Joe Biden leading the Republican incumbent in decisive states.
After appearing twice at the White House in recent days to address the nation, Mr Trump left the presidential residence for the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
Mr Biden stands on the verge of winning the White House -- a victory in battleground state Pennsylvania, where he is leading, would give him enough votes in the Electoral College, which determines the presidency.
Mr Trump however has claimed: “I won this election, by a lot!” -- a claim that was flagged by Twitter.
In fact, the US President was active on Twitter on Saturday morning (local time), also suggesting there would be a “big press conference” in Philadelphia. There was no further information on what that would detail.
Late on Friday night (local time), Mr Biden addressed the nation. It wasn’t the victory speech contender he had hoped to make, but in a late night address to America calling for calm, unity and healing, the Democrat set a stark contrast to the bombastic president he looks almost certain to depose.
Declaring he was “already getting started” the work necessary to rebuild a country shattered by the coronavirus and political division, Mr Biden said that despite legal challenges and a refusal by Donald Trump to give up the White House, the record 74 million votes his ticket received were his mandate.
“We are beating Donald Trump by over four million votes,” Mr Biden said.
“What is becoming clear each hour is that record numbers of Americans of all races, faiths, religions, chose change over more of the same.
“They have given us a mandate for action on COVID, the economy, climate change, systemic racism. They have made it clear that they want the country to come together, not continue to pull apart.
“The people spoke. More than 74 million Americans spoke loudly for our ticket. But while we’re waiting for the final results, I want people to know we are not waiting to get the work done. We’re going to start the process.”
While Mr Biden was leading across the board as counting dragged on last night, he had not been awarded the necessary 270 electoral college votes he needs to officially beat Donald Trump.
He again stopped short of declaring he had won, saying he hoped to speak again today.
“We don’t have a final declaration of victory yet but the numbers tell us it is clear, and a clear and convincing story,” Mr Biden said.
“We’re going to win this race.”
He said he believed he would win more than 300 electoral college votes with yesterday’s results all in his favour.
“We were behind in Georgia, now we are ahead and we’re going to win that,” he said.
“24 hours ago, we were behind in Pennsylvania and we are going to win Pennsylvania.
“We are winning in Arizona, winning in Nevada, and in fact, our lead has just doubled in Nevada. We are on track to have over 300 electoral college votes. Look at the national numbers. We’re going to win this race, a clear majority with the nation behind us.
“We’re going to be the first Democrat to win in Arizona in 24 years, we’re going to be the first Democrat to win Georgia in 28 years, and we have rebuilt the blue wall in the middle of the country that crumbled just years ago.”
Anxious Americans were warned they could be waiting days or even weeks for the final results, as Mr Biden expanded his leads in Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
If Mr Biden wins any of those states he wins the White House, while Mr Trump has to win all of them.
With Mr Trump trailing by 29,000 votes, scrutineers in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County stopped counting late last night and would return on Saturday, local time to process the final votes.
“The last batch is a lot more complicated for them. I think there is a lot of pre-processing, so I don’t know when they’ll be running the counter,” said election official Rich Fitzgerald.
Controversy still surrounds the decision by Fox News and the Associated Press to award Arizona to Mr Biden on election night, giving Mr Biden a total of 264 of the necessary electoral college votes to Mr Trump’s 214. But even with Arizona in play, Mr Trump has a far narrower path to victory.
Mr Trump didn’t appear publicly yesterday after his controversial White House address the day before, but he posted several social media comments backing in his claims of fraud.
Republicans sent legal teams to four states to mount challenges, with Mr Trump saying he was determined to push his fight all the way to the Supreme Court.
“Joe Biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the President. I could make that claim also. Legal proceedings are just now beginning!” He said.
“I had such a big lead in all of these states late into election night, only to see the leads miraculously disappear as the days went by. Perhaps these leads will return as our legal proceedings move forward!”
Mr Trump’s truculence has drawn broad and disrespectful criticism, including from Pennsylvania Mayor Jim Kenney.
“I think what the president needs to do is, frankly, put his big boy pants on and needs to acknowledge the fact that he lost and he needs to congratulate the winner, just as Jimmy Carter did, just as George H.W. Bush did, and, frankly, just as Al Gore did, and stop this and let us move forward as a country,” Mr Kenney said yesterday.
“That’s my feeling.”
Mr Trump’s team copped a further setback yesterday, with chief of staff Mark Meadows contracting COVID-19.
Mr Meadows had been among those who abided by the President’s efforts to play down the virus.
Mr Biden’s address was two hours later than he had scheduled what was widely anticipated to be a victory speech from the stage in Wilmington, Delaware, that has been set up since Tuesday’s election.
Standing beside running mate Kamala Harris, he laid out some of his plans for America.
Saying the country didn’t have time for partisan “warfare”, he called for an end to the division that has characterised the election season.
“We may be opponents but we are not enemies, we are Americans,” he said.
“No matter who you voted for, I’m certain of one thing, the vast majority of the … 150 million who voted, they want the vitriol out of our politics. We aren’t going to agree on the issues but we have to be civil.”
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Originally published as US election 2020: Donald Trump claims he won US election ‘by a lot’ as Biden victory near