News24.com | LIVE | New Pennsylvania results expected soon - if Biden wins the state he will claim the White House

Trump aides reportedly had to explain his 'STOP THE COUNT' demand would guarantee his loss

According to The Washington Post, the president's senior advisors "intervened, explaining to the president that he needed to be more precise about just which vote counts he wanted halted."

"He did not want all of the states to stop counting votes, they added, because that would lead to a Biden victory," The Post added.

JUST IN: Pennsylvania is set to release a new vote count shortly

According to CNN, election officials are expected to release more results on their vote count in Pennsylvania soon.

[Joe] Biden is only behind [Donald] Trump by a little more than 18 000 votes in Pennsylvania right now. 

'I easily win!': Trump repeats baseless claim of vote fraud in White House rant

In an extraordinary outburst, the US president again claimed the election was being 'stolen' from him and cast doubt on the integrity of the democratic process, but offered no evidence.

JUST IN: Joe Biden's lead in Georgia has grown slightly to 1,096 votes

What you need to know right now

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden took a narrow lead over President Donald Trump in the battleground state of Georgia early on Friday, putting the White House within his reach as it and other undecided states continued to count votes.

- Trump backers ramped up demonstrations on Thursday night against an election they believe was rigged or being stolen, clashing with counter-protesters as vote counting continued in battleground states.

- Trump's campaign lost court rulings in the closely contested states of Georgia and Michigan on Thursday as it vowed to bring a new lawsuit challenging what it called voting irregularities in Nevada.

- The US Postal Service said about 1 700 ballots had been identified in Pennsylvania at processing facilities during two sweeps Thursday and were in the process of being delivered to election officials.

- Reuters

Republicans react to Trump's election fraud claims

Several prominent Republicans condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's claims of a 'stolen' election.

BREAKING: Joe Biden has taken the lead by 917 votes in the state of Georgia.

Two detained outside Pennsylvania vote count center - US media

Ballot counting continues in four crucial states days after Tuesday's vote, with Democrat Joe Biden still confident of capturing the presidency from incumbent Donald Trump.

Trump, narrowly ahead in Pennsylvania, has made unsubstantiated claims about vote rigging in these key states.

Philadelphia police investigate an alleged plot to attack building where votes are counted - report

According to WPVI, police received a tip that a group, "possibly a family," drove up from Virginia in a Hummer "to unleash an attack at the Convention Center."

Police arrested one man, though it is not clear if the man detained was part of the group.

JUST IN: Trump's lead in Georgia falls to 463 votes

According to CNN, these are the gaps between Trump and Biden in the remaining key states:

Trump ahead in Pennsylvania by 18 229. (Down by 4 347 since last count)

Trump ahead in Georgia by 665. (Down by 602 since last count)

Biden ahead in Nevada by 11 438.

Biden ahead in Arizona by 47 052.

- Americans continue to watch and wait to see who will be declared the winner of Tuesday’s presidential elections.

- Currently, Biden is projected to have won 253 electoral votes and Trump 213.

- The race goes to the contender with 270 votes.

- President Trump on Thursday repeated voting fraud claims without evidence in his first address since Tuesday’s elections.

- Alaska, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are still counting ballots and winners have not been projected in those states.

- Biden, who has urged for patience, has closed the gap in Georgia and Pennsylvania.

- Arizona has been projected by some for Biden, but officials say mail-in ballots are still being counted.

I easily WIN the Presidency of the United States with LEGAL VOTES CAST. The OBSERVERS were not allowed, in any way, shape, or form, to do their job and therefore, votes accepted during this period must be determined to be ILLEGAL VOTES. U.S. Supreme Court should decide!

John Matisonn | America may reject Trump, but Trumpism isn’t dead

Election tension in the United States is likely to continue for a long time even after the counting process is done with, writes John Matisonn. 

FACT CHECK | Donald Trump claims US election rigged

As the tortuous US presidential election appeared headed to a conclusion, Donald Trump addressed the nation Thursday and claimed without evidence that he was being robbed of a second term.

The White House press conference was the president's first public appearance in more than 36 hours, and came after a day punctuated by tweets that showed his displeasure as his Democratic rival Joe Biden moved closer to victory.

In his 17-minute presentation Trump made a series of inaccurate comments about the election and its conduct.

He left without taking questions.

AFP breaks down what he said.

Here are the legal challenges Trump's campaign has filed to dispute the 2020 election results

The 2020 election hasn't been called yet, but the Trump campaign has already mounted legal challenges in several battleground states as the president trails the Democratic nominee Joe Biden in electoral votes.

JUST IN: Trump's lead in Pennsylvania falls to 22,500 votes

The outcome of the US presidential election remained in the balance on Friday morning as a handful of battleground states complete their vote counts.

Democrat Joe Biden has racked up at least 253 of the 270 electoral votes that he needs, according to US network projections - and 264 if Arizona is included, which Fox News and The Associated Press have called in his favour.

Donald Trump has amassed 213 electoral votes so far, and is still in contention in several states that would afford the Republican incumbent a path to reelection.

Expected to report final vote counts Thursday night or Friday are Georgia (16 electoral votes), North Carolina (15), and Nevada (6). However, mail-in ballots sent on or before Election Day in North Carolina can be counted until November 12.

Biden could reach the magic number to gain the White House with a win in any of the three, if he keeps Arizona. Trump needs to capture all three to stay competitive.

Meanwhile, with his re-election chances fading as more votes are counted in a handful of battleground states, President Donald Trump launched an extraordinary assault on the country's democratic process from the White House on Thursday, falsely claiming the election was being "stolen" from him.

Offering no evidence, Trump lambasted election workers and alleged fraud in the states where results from a dwindling set of uncounted votes are pushing Democrat Joe Biden nearer to victory.

"This is a case where they're trying to steal an election," Trump said.

- AFP

US Postal Service failed to deliver over 150,000 mail-in ballots by Election Day - report

Less than 85% of swing-state ballots that reached the post office by Tuesday were actually delivered by Election Day, The Washington Post reported.

More than 150,000 mail-in votes were affected by the US Postal Service's inability to process them on time, a product of delays in mail delivery that have significantly worsened since Trump donor Louis DeJoy became Postmaster General, The Post noted, citing court documents filed Thursday.

US counties worst affected by Covid overwhelmingly voted for Trump

Counties that are experiencing some of the worst Covid-19 surges have overwhelmingly voted for President Donald Trump in this year's presidential election, the Associated Press reported. 

Trump won the majority of votes in more than 90% of the 376 US counties with the highest number of new Covid-19 cases per capita. 

Most of those were rural areas in Midwestern states, where there is high opposition to social distancing and face mask guidelines. 

US election continues to boost rand – R15/$ ‘increasingly plausible’

On Friday morning, the rand was trading at R15.71 - its best level since early March, before lockdown and the Moody's downgrade.

One analyst believes the rand could now approach R15.

A somber mood has prevailed at the White House, according to reports from AFP. Aides to the president said they remained cautiously optimistic that he still had a path to re-election, while conceding that he may lose.

Trump worked from the Oval Office on Thursday in what was otherwise largely an empty West Wing. Many of his senior staff were huddled at the campaign's headquarters in nearby Virginia.

"He's very engaged, he's monitoring, talking to all the states. It doesn't look good, but this guy wants to keep fighting," said one Trump confidante, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

"He's in a fighting mood right now. He's not melancholy or dejected. But the path is getting harder and harder."

The president's campaign has launched multiple legal challenges in the states where votes are still being counted.

One White House official said he was confident the strategy of legal challenges would prevail, even if television networks call the race for Biden once final vote counts in states such as Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania come in.

Another lamented the loss of support among suburban women that helped doom Trump's chances in Wisconsin, while lauding the president for changing the Republican Party for decades to come by attracting more Latino and African-American votes.

- AFP

While we wait for results to trickle in, have a listen to News24's new podcast: Politics Unmuted.

PODCAST | POLITICS UNMUTED: Is American democracy in danger?

In the third episode of Politics Unmuted, a new podcast by News24, we talk about the American elections, the state the country finds itself in, and what it means for democracy.

Political editor Qaanitah Hunter talks to News24 assistant editor for in-depth news, Pieter du Toit, and News24 political reporter Lizeka Tandwa about whether the US could learn from countries like South Africa. 

The trio of political hacks provide insights and analysis into America's electoral system.

Trump campaign loses legal fights in Georgia and Michigan, vows Nevada lawsuit

President Donald Trump's campaign lost court rulings in the closely contested states of Georgia and Michigan on Thursday, even as it vowed to bring a new lawsuit challenging what it called voting irregularities in Nevada.

In the Georgia case, the campaign alleged that 53 late-arriving ballots were mixed with on-time ballots. In Michigan, it had sought to stop votes from being counted and obtain greater access to the tabulation process.

State judges tossed out both lawsuits on Thursday.James Bass, a Superior Court judge in Georgia, said there was "no evidence" that the ballots in question were invalid.

In the Michigan case, Judge Cynthia Stephens said: "I have no basis to find that there is a substantial likelihood of success on the merits."

A Trump campaign spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment on the Michigan and Georgia rulings.

Trump allies also alleged that there had been voting irregularities in Nevada's populous Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.

Votes are still being counted in all three states, among a handful of battleground states that could decide the presidency.

Democratic challenger Joe Biden has a narrow lead in Nevada, Trump a narrow lead in Georgia, and Biden has been projected to win in Michigan.

- Reuters

CNN's Anderson Cooper describes Trump as 'an obese turtle on his back, flailing in the hot sun'

CNN's Anderson Cooper didn't mince words when he reacted to President Donald Trump's grievance-filled speech from the White House podium Thursday evening.

"That is the president of the United States. That is the most powerful person in the world. We see him like an obese turtle on his back flailing in the hot sun, realizing his time is over," Cooper said.

FRIDAY BRIEFING | Trumpism and MAGA politics: A warning from the US to SA

In this week’s edition of News24’s Friday Briefing, editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson argues that Trump’s America offers a warning about populist leaders and how to manage elections. Our opinions editor, Vanessa Banton, spoke to three experts about the US election and what how we should  interpret them. And Pieter du Toit looks at South Africa’s MAGAs who shaped their own Trumpian fan-base here.

JUST IN: Biden's lead in Arizona falls to 46,000 votes

Trump sons stand by their father's election claims

While Donald Trump's political allies remained silent or distanced themselves Thursday from the US president, increasingly alone in his fight against what he says is widespread election "fraud", his oldest sons declared their filial loyalty.

Donald Trump Jr., the eldest, called on his father in a tweet to wage "total war" against the cheating that he believes is tainting the presidential election.

The inflammatory tweet was framed by some, including the New York Post, as a clear sign of growing panic in the Trump camp over Joe Biden's chances of winning the White House.

"The best thing for America's future is for @realDonaldTrump to go to total war over this election to expose all of the fraud, cheating, dead/no longer in state voters, that has been going on for far too long," Don Jr. wrote on his Twitter account, where he regularly retweets conspiracy theories.

He did not provide any evidence of the cheating he alleged was going on.

"It's time to clean up this mess & stop looking like a banana republic!" he added, before deriding the "total lack of action" from Republicans, naming some - such as South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, usually a staunch Trump ally.

His younger brother Eric also targeted the party that his father theoretically heads.

"Where are Republicans! Have some backbone. Fight against this fraud. Our voters will never forget you if your sheep!" he wrote.

Few, however, appeared to answer his grammatically incorrect call.

Trump's eldest daughter and one of his senior advisers, Ivanka, tweeted Thursday that her father "will always go to the mat fighting for the hardworking men & women of this great Country!"

But she has not tweeted or retweeted any of the fraud allegations championed by her brothers since Election Day.

- AFP

Undermining the legitimacy of an election—what Trump is doing now, and in fact has done for months—is how demagogues destroy faith in democracy and move us toward authoritarianism. pic.twitter.com/SSEbxf5KDd

Trump falsely claims election being 'stolen' as votes push Biden closer to victory

With his re-election chances fading as more votes are counted in a handful of battleground states, US President Donald Trump launched an extraordinary assault on the country's democratic process from the White House on Thursday, falsely claiming the election was being "stolen" from him.

Offering no evidence, Trump lambasted election workers and alleged fraud in the states where results from a dwindling set of uncounted votes are pushing Democrat Joe Biden nearer to victory."This is a case where they're trying to steal an election," Trump said.

Several news networks cut away from the president, who spoke for about 15 minutes in the White House briefing room before leaving without taking questions.

Biden, the former vice president, was chipping away at the Republican incumbent's leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia even as he maintained narrow advantages in Nevada and Arizona, moving closer to securing the 270 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner.

In three of the four states, the margins between the two men had tightened since Wednesday, as results from counting centers trickled in and anxious Americans waited for clarity after an exhausting and deeply vitriolic election.

Trump, without evidence, claims 'if you count the legal votes, I easily win'

US President Donald Trump says he has already won many decisive states in a press conference on Thursday.

Without evidence Trump made several claims, including that if you counted the 'legal votes he had easily won', that the election was rigged and that there had been a number of irregularities.

He added that there was no big blue wave as was predicted, instead there has been a big 'red wave'.

Trump said his team had launched a "tremendous amount of litigation" to counter what he called the "corruption" of Democrats, even as several officials in battleground states where the vote remains undecided have defended the integrity of the vote.

Joe Biden, the former vice president, was chipping away at the Republican incumbent's leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia even as he maintained narrow advantages in Nevada and Arizona, moving closer to securing the 270 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner.

Federal watchdog probing Trump campaign's use of White House - lawmaker

The US Office of Special Counsel has opened an investigation into allegations that the Trump campaign's use of the White House as an Election Day command centre violated federal law, Democratic Representative Bill Pascrell said on Thursday.

In a statement, Pascrell said the federal watchdog responded on Thursday to his call for a probe, telling him a special unit "has opened an investigation into these allegations to determine if the Hatch Act was violated."

- Reuters

JUST IN: US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has prepared a resignation letter

There are reports that US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has prepared a resignation letter.

NBC news reported that three current officials said Esper prepared his letter because he is one of the Cabinet officials long expected to be pushed out after the election.

ICYMI - News24 editors weigh in on the US elections

US President Donald Trump has shown a complete disregard for facts and decency in the past 24 hours. Joe Biden has been presidential, writes News24 editor Adriaan Basson.

The vote counting process after citizens have voted in the United States has been an eye-opener for News24's political editor Qaanitah Hunter. She writes that South Africa could teach the US a thing or two. 

Almost exactly 12 years ago News24's In-Depth Editor Pieter du Toit stood in Grant Park, in Chicago, on the shores of Lake Michigan when Barack Obama spoke after winning the US presidential election. He writes there's nothing left of the optimism and vibrancy of those heady times.

Trump campaign faces legal action for using Village People song at rallies

Lawyers will file a complaint "in the next few days" over the unauthorised use of the Village People hit "YMCA" at campaign rallies for US President Donald Trump, a rights attorney said on Thursday.

The 1978 disco anthem was used both at rallies and as the soundtrack to a campaign video ahead of Tuesday's US presidential election.

The rights holders, including Scorpio Music "have discovered with amazement this misappropriation, moreover for partisan and electoral purposes for the benefit of Donald Trump, which they would never have accepted," said lawyer Richard Malka.

The unauthorised use of the song will "be the subject of a complaint in the next few days, both in France and in the United States, against any initiator or accomplice of what constitutes outright theft of the property of others", he said.

The YMCA song was penned by French writers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo and Village People lead singer Victor Willis.

The Village People had hits on both sides of the Atlantic with "YMCA" as well as "In the Navy" and "Macho Man" in the late 1970s. They became standard bearers for the gay community.

- AFP

Pennsylvania still counting as crowds gather outside voting centre

Pennsylvania's Secretary of State says there are still many ballots to count.

Speaking during a press conference on Thursday, Kathy Boockvar said there was several hundred thousand ballots left to be counted and they would be counting into the night.

Meanwhile supporters of President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden held tense demos at the main vote counting centre in Pennsylvania.

Biden supporters want ever vote counted, while Trump backers want votes that came in by mail after election day be ignored -- and support the president's unsubstantiated claims that the mail-in ballot system was riddled with fraud.

Biden leads Trump in the all-important electoral vote count that determines the election winner, and a Pennsylvania victory would put him over the magic threshold of 270 electoral votes needed to win -- regardless of the outcome in remaining states yet to be called. The gap between the rivals in Pennsylvania has been narrowing as the state counts its mail-in ballots, which have tended to favour Biden.

- additional reporting/image by AFP

I spent the afternoon attending briefings on the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the state of the economy. Tune in as I provide an update on these briefings and efforts to count every vote. pic.twitter.com/duoDWfzf5C

Biden calls for calm, confident he will win

In a statement released on Thursday, Democratic candidate Joe Biden called for patience and calm as the votes are counted.

Biden, who said each ballot counts, also added that he had no doubt he would win.

"We continue to feel very good about where things stand. We have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator (Kamala) Harris and I will be declared the winners," Biden said.

Biden drewscloser to defeating Republican President Donald Trump as counting continued from Tuesday's elections, even as the Trump campaign said it expected to launch more legal actions and would emerge victorious.

Facebook removes pro-Trump 'Stop the Steal' election group

Facebook on Thursday shut down a pro-Trump group organizing protests against vote-counting, saying it was being used to delegitimize the election process and included "worrying" calls for violence.

The group, called "Stop the Steal," was just days old but had topped 300,000 members by the time it was removed for violating Facebook policies.

The social network acted as ballot counting continues in battleground states two days after Tuesday's vote, with Democrat Joe Biden still confident of capturing the presidency from incumbent Donald Trump.

"In line with the exceptional measures that we are taking during this period of heightened tension, we have removed the Group 'Stop the Steal,' which was creating real-world events," Facebook said.

- AFP

Trump campaign sues Philadelphia election officials, seeks Republican oversight of ballot counting

US President Donald Trump's campaign on Thursday sued Philadelphia County's Board of Elections, seeking an emergency injunction barring it from counting ballots so long as Republican observers are not present as it said was required under Pennsylvania law.

Trump's campaign said election officials are "intentionally refusing to allow any representatives and poll watchers for President Trump and the Republican Party." The lawsuit was filed with the federal court in Philadelphia.

- Reuters

Which states could tip the US election and when will they report results?

The outcome of the US presidential election hung in the balance on Thursday as five swing states continued to count their ballots.

To capture the White House, a candidate must amass at least 270 votes in the Electoral College.

Edison Research gave Democratic challenger Biden a 243 against 213 lead over Republican President Donald Trump in Electoral College votes. Other networks said Biden had won Wisconsin, which would give him another 10 votes.

Results in Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes), Georgia (16), North Carolina (15), Arizona (11) and Nevada (6) remained uncertain as of Thursday afternoon, according to Edison Research.

PICS | US elections: Protests flare up as vote counting drags on

A second day of sometimes dueling demonstrations over the integrity of the US presidential election started early on Thursday in Philadelphia and other cities as ballot counting dragged on in a handful of states that will decide the outcome.

Supporters of Joe Biden have rallied around the slogan to "count every vote," believing a complete tally would show the Democratic former vice president had beaten Republican President Donald Trump. Ardent Trump backers have countered with cries to "protect the vote" in support of his campaign's efforts to have some categories of ballots, including some votes submitted by mail, discarded.