US election 2020: Can Donald Trump actually stop the vote count?

A top election lawyer who represented Donald Trump’s party for decades was shocked by the President’s calls for all vote counting to stop immediately.

A longtime Republican Party election lawyer has called Donald Trump’s speech a “distressing moment” for the United States after the President claimed victory and called for all vote counting to stop.

In his speech at the White House, Mr Trump said the counting of postal votes was “a fraud on the American public” and warned he would take action in the US Supreme Court.

He declared himself the winner even though key battlefield states remain too close to call.

In the immediate aftermath of the speech, CNN spoke to Republican Party election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg, who described Mr Trump’s comments as “extraordinary”.

“These are all legally cast votes,” Mr Ginsberg said.

“The process of trying to toss them out for some reason would just be viewed by any court, including the Supreme Court, as a massive disenfranchisement.”

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Donald Trump declared victory during his speech at the White House while voting continued. Picture: Mandel Ngan / AFP

Host Jake Tapper asked Mr Ginsberg how he would advise the President in this situation.

“I think you have to let all the votes be counted and watch it very carefully. And if you have objections to particular ballots, or to the process, then you have remedies after the fact,” Mr Ginsberg said.

“These are legally cast ballots, Jake. For a president to say we’re going to disenfranchise those legally cast ballots really is extraordinary.

“It’s a distressing moment for me as a longtime Republican to see a call to disenfranchise so many people.

“Everyone who was on the ballot today recognised the value of individuals’ votes, and how what we do is try to preserve them and honour them.

“What the president said tonight is not only unprecedented, and not only lacks any basis in the law, it really is a disservice to anyone who was on the ballot today.”

Mr Trump at the podium on election night alongside First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence. Picture: Mandel Ngan / AFP

During his speech at the East Wing of the White House, shortly after 2am, Mr Trump foreshadowed a Supreme Court challenge if mail-in votes — cast legitimately before the election — were allowed to be counted in the coming days.

“This is an embarrassment to our country,” the President said, before claiming victory outright.

“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’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4:00 in the morning and add them to the list, OK?

“It’s a very sad — it’s a very sad moment. To me this is a very sad moment. And we will win in. As far as I’m concerned, we already have won it, so I just want to thank you for your support.”