JOE Biden has slammed what he called Donald Trump’s “outrageous” and “unprecedented” call to stop counting votes.
In an extraordinary late night speech from the White House the president called for "all voting to stop" and suggested he would go to the Supreme Court.
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The president’s statement drew a sharp reaction from the Biden campaign.
"The president's statement tonight about trying to shut down the counting of duly cast ballots was outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect," said Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon.
"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.
It comes as...
"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."
As the president threatened to go to the Supreme Court, O'Malley Dillon said: "We have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist... and they will prevail.”
In her statement O'Malley Dillon insisted: "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."
"We repeat what the Vice President said tonight: Donald Trump does not decide the outcome of this election. Joe Biden does not decide the outcome of this election.
"The American people decide the outcome of this election. And the democratic process must and will continue until its conclusion."
The Biden campaign's response came after Trump stepped out at around 2am to make an address that many Democrats had feared was coming - an apparent declaration of victory before the conclusion of the election.
The President said: "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 U.S. 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.
Earlier Biden said he "knew this was gonna go long" tonight as the election is "not over until every vote is counted," as the results drag out.
During his midnight address in Wilmington, Delaware on Wednesday, the Democratic nominee said "we feel good about where we are" during the fraught deadlock with Donald Trump.
Biden spent the evening watching the returns come in from his Wilmington home and drove downtown by motorcade to make his statement outside the Chase Center this evening.
"We're gonna have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished," Biden declared. "It ain't over until every ballot is counted."
"We believe we are on track to win this election," he told his supporters. "We knew this was gonna go long."
He warned that the pending results may "go into tomorrow morning and maybe even longer," but added that "we feel good about where we are we really do."
"We believe we're on track to win this election," the former VP continued.
"We knew because of the unprecedented mail in and early votes that it's gonna take a while."
Biden is currently locked in a nail-biting battle tonight with Trump as neither candidates a knockout blow to seal the election yet.
Right now, he has a 10-point lead in the crucial state of North Carolina, where 85 percent of the votes have been counted.
Arizona was called as a win for Biden by Fox News.
Reports indicate that this, combined with the NC result, plus vital wins in Michigan, and Wisconsin, could mean 270 electoral votes for Biden.
Trump declared a victory in Florida, Texas, and Ohio earlier this evening.
The heated contest could come down to the key Rust Belt states that Trump won in 2016: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Should Trump and Biden take the states they are expected to win, then the race could come down to PA and the result may be days or even weeks away.
The former Vice President went on to say that he was confident he would win Arizona and Pennsylvania, after he called it in Minnesota.
During his Delaware address, Biden noted that it was "still in a game in Georgia."
"[We're] feeling really good about Michigan and Wisconsin," he continued. "By the way it's gonna take the time to count the votes."
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."
- "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."
- "To me, this is a very sad moment. And we will win this. As far as I’m concerned, we already have won it ."
Biden urged his supporters to have faith after Trump declared victory in Florida this evening.
He insisted his hopes for a Democratic victory remained high despite the uncertainty as he cautioned people that it could take a day or longer to know who won.
Biden said "your patience is commendable" hours after the polls have closed across America while the results remain up in the air.
But Trump fired back on Twitter with a wild response that was flagged by the social media giant as being "disputed" and "misleading."
"We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election," Potus wrote. "We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!"
Trump also reitered Kellyanne Conway's earlier statements that he would be addressing the nation tonight about his "big WIN!"
A number of key states still have hundreds of thousands of ballots outstanding.
This is because a large influx of mail ballots have slowed down the count in states across the nation.
Nevertheless, Biden said he's "feeling really good about Michigan and Wisconsin."
Biden failed to delivered 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.
Trump won Florida early on and despite early indications of possible shock wins for Biden in Texas, Ohio, and North Carolina.
But his lead was being eaten away during the evening as more votes were counted – leaving the election on a knife edge as of 1.26 am EST.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiXWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZXN1bi5jby51ay9uZXdzLzEzMTAzMzQzL2pvZS1iaWRlbi11cy1lbGVjdGlvbi1kb25hbGQtdHJ1bXAtZXZlcnktdm90ZS1jb3VudGVkL9IBYWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZXN1bi5jby51ay9uZXdzLzEzMTAzMzQzL2pvZS1iaWRlbi11cy1lbGVjdGlvbi1kb25hbGQtdHJ1bXAtZXZlcnktdm90ZS1jb3VudGVkL2FtcC8?oc=5
2020-11-04 10:02:39Z
CBMiXWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZXN1bi5jby51ay9uZXdzLzEzMTAzMzQzL2pvZS1iaWRlbi11cy1lbGVjdGlvbi1kb25hbGQtdHJ1bXAtZXZlcnktdm90ZS1jb3VudGVkL9IBYWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZXN1bi5jby51ay9uZXdzLzEzMTAzMzQzL2pvZS1iaWRlbi11cy1lbGVjdGlvbi1kb25hbGQtdHJ1bXAtZXZlcnktdm90ZS1jb3VudGVkL2FtcC8
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