US election 2020: Joe Biden expects to win on the back of Donald Trump claiming victory
As counting continues and the race narrows, a quietly confident Joe Biden has spoken as Donald Trump launches multiple legal challenges.
Presidential hopeful Joe Biden has stopped just short of declaring victory as the US election race tightens.
Speaking as counting continues, the former Vice President said he’s confident the Democrats are winning enough states to reach the crucial 270 Electoral College votes needed to win.
“I’m not here to declare that we’ve won, but I am here to report, when the counting is finished, we believe we will be the winners,” Mr Biden said.
While he’s tracking well on the Electoral College count, Mr Biden also pointed out that he has a popular vote lead of almost three million votes.
Mr Biden praised the enormous turnout yesterday, saying more Americans had voted than ever before in history.
“Over 150 million people cast their votes. I think that’s just extraordinary,” he said.
“And if we had any doubts, we shouldn’t have any longer, about a government of, by and for the people.”
He also spoke of the “long and difficult campaign” America has endured over the past two years.
“We’ve had hard campaigns before. We’ve faced hard times before. So, once this election is finalised and behind us, it will be time for us to do what we’ve always done as Americans.
“To unite. To heal. To come together as a nation. I know this won’t be easy.”
As Mr Biden wrapped up his speech, CNN projected he will win the crucial state of Michigan.
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Overnight, Mr Biden’s campaign hit back after US President Donald Trump strode to the podium after 2am to claim he has “won the election” during an extraordinary speech.
Mr Trump also declared that vote counting should be stopped immediately.
During an extraordinary speech from the East Room of the White House, Mr Trump foreshadowed a Supreme Court challenge if mail-in votes — cast legitimately before the election — are allowed to be counted in the coming days.
“This is without question the latest news conference I’ve ever had,” he told supporters to chants of “USA, USA”.
“I want to thank the American people for their tremendous support. Millions and millions of people voted for us today. A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people and we will not stand for it,” the President said.
He told supporters that he was on track to win before the counting of votes stopped “all of a sudden”.
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“We were getting ready for a big celebration. We were winning everything and all of a sudden it was called off. We were all set to get outside and celebrate something so beautiful, so good, such a success.
“This is a record. There’s never been anything like it. We won states we weren’t expected to win. Florida — we won it by a lot. We won the great state of Ohio. We won Texas by 700,000 votes.
“It’s also clear that we have won Georgia. We’re up by 117,000 votes with only 7 per cent left. They can’t catch us. Likewise, we’ve clearly won North Carolina.
“We’re winning Pennsylvania by a tremendous amount of votes. We’re up 690,000 votes in Pennsylvania. These aren’t even close.
“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.”
BIDEN CAMPAIGN RESPONDS
Mr Biden’s campaign manager responded to Donald Trump’s comments about the election, calling them “outrageous”.
“The president’s statement tonight about trying to shut down the counting of duly cast ballots was outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect,” Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.
“It was outrageous because it is a naked effort to take away the democratic rights of American citizens.
“It was unprecedented because never before in our history has a president of the United States sought to strip Americans of their voice in a national election. Having encouraged Republican efforts in multiple states to prevent the legal counting of these ballots before Election Day, now Donald Trump is saying these ballots can’t be counted after Election Day either.
“And it was incorrect because it will not happen. The counting will not stop. It will continue until every duly cast vote is counted. Because that is what our laws — the laws that protect every Americans’ constitutional right to vote — require.”
Ms O’Malley Dillon reiterated neither candidate decided the outcome of the election: “The American people decide the outcome of this election. And the democratic process must and will continue until its conclusion.”
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REACTION TO TRUMP’S SPEECH
Commentators have been quick to point out that states the President claimed victory in are far from decided.
CNN’s Jim Acosta said: “Our founding fathers are probably rolling in their graves right now. They did not envision an American President delegitimising an election. What’s what Donald Trump did a few moments ago. It’s historic and it’s historically awful.”
Others were equally dismissive of the President’s claims.
GOP lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg says legally Mr Trump has no way to stop the votes being counted.
British television host Piers Morgan called the scenes a “disgrace”.
“President Trump has just launched an unprecedented assault on American democracy, demanding millions of Americans are denied their votes, & it’s an absolute disgrace,” he wrote.
GOP lawyer Ben Ginsberg says there’s no direct right of appeal to SCOTUS to stop counting ballots. He says they can challenge individual states over procedures. Ginsberg says courts would believe Trump’s lawsuit would be a “massive disenfranchisement that would be frowned uponâ€
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 4, 2020
America should never be allowed to lecture the world again about free and fair elections or democratic norms of conduct after what it has allowed to transpire in its own election
— Ayman Mohyeldin (@AymanM) November 4, 2020
President Trump has just launched an unprecedented assault on American democracy, demanding millions of Americans are denied their votes, & it’s an absolute disgrace.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 4, 2020
Among other things, Trump has just insured that whether he wins or loses, large numbers of Americans will consider this election illegitimate. Faith in democratic institutions will likely fall further. Extremism and radicalism will rise.
— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) November 4, 2020
Mr Trump earlier has accused his rivals of trying to “steal” the election as his presidency hangs in the balance.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden has just given a speech in which he revealed his confidence in winning the election.
“Keep the faith, guys. We are going to win this. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your patience is great,” he said.
Mr Trump then immediately fired off several confident tweets — breaking his seven-hour silence — with one including an awkward typo.
“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 Poles are closed!” he posted.
A minute later, he wrote: “I will be making a statement tonight. A big WIN!”
He soon replaced the original tweet with another with the correct spelling of “polls”.
I will be making a statement tonight. A big WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
This one? pic.twitter.com/LU85DXg7ed
— Leigh Morpeth 💚ðŸŒâœŠðŸ§¬ðŸ—£ (@leigh_morpeth) November 4, 2020
But Twitter has already flagged potential issues with the President’s claim, with his tweet covered with the message: “Some or all of the content shared in this tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.”
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020
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