Will Joe Biden address the nation TONIGHT as he closes in on victories in Nevada, Arizona and overtakes Trump in Pennsylvania and Georgia

Biden on Thursday night - he is now poised for White House victory after taking the lead in Pennsylvania

Joe Biden will address the nation in primetime Friday, his campaign confirmed – pointing to their overwhelming confidence he is about to win the presidential election.

The speech will be delivered regardless of whether the election has been called in his favor, which now appears certain to be either Friday or over the weekend.

As it stands, Biden has 253 electoral college votes. He needs 270 to win which is realistic in two ways. If he wins Pennsylvania, he gains 20 votes and no longer needs either Arizona or Nevada. But if he wins Arizona - which has 11 electoral college votes - and Nevada - which has 6 - he no longer needs Pennsylvania. 

Biden's lead in Pennsylvania was over 14,500 when Trump tweeted; just under 44,000 in Arizona although apparently falling rather than rising; up 20,000 in Nevada and ahead but set for a recount in Georgia.

The Associated Press said the address would come in primetime, with the exact time so far still flexible while the campaign waits to see if the election will be called in his favor by TV networks and the AP.

Biden's move prompted an angry tweet from Donald Trump just before 6pm, sent from the White House where he had spent the day reportedly fuming as he watched television and spoke to confidantes. 

His legal path to challenging the election unclear and his mathematical path to retaining power apparently almost closed, Trump railed:  'Joe Biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the President. I could make that claim also. Legal proceedings are just now beginning!'

Then he tweeted - apparently somewhat plaintively - that his initial 'big leads' had vanished, something which election watchers had predicted for weeks before the election.

'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!' he tweeted.

But vote tallies in Pennsylvania and Nevada showed Biden's lead - not Trump's increasing.

In the White House, Trump's inner circle were scrambling to work out how to tell him he had lost, while he vowed defiantly to pursue legal challenges to the count in a series of states, claiming he was fighting for 'election integrity,' the day after an extraordinary 17-minute tirade claiming he was the victim of a 'conspiracy' and that counting the votes was part of the 'fraud.' 

Biden's campaign has kept ready an outdoor stage at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware for a primetime address and warned TV networks to be prepared for a speech. 

Close supporters of the VP were tipped off Friday to head to the Chase Center in their vehicles. The Democrats have been holding major events drive-in movie theater style in order to ensure proper social distancing of their crowds. The Chase Center parking lot is where his campaign staged fireworks after he accepted the Democratic nomination during the Democratic National Convention, where the major speeches were moved to Wilmington due to the coronavirus pandemic. If the race is called for the former vice president, the event is expected to look the same. 

The country and the world are waiting for election results from three states; Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona. 

While officials work at an excruciatingly slow pace to finish the count, and amid claims he would refuse to concede, Trump muddied the waters with a vague statement about his intentions. 

The tone in the statement, released by his campaign, was vastly different from the fighting words Trump lets loose in his tweets.

'This is no longer about any single election. This is about the integrity of our entire election process. From the beginning we have said that all legal ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots should not be counted, yet we have met resistance to this basic principle by Democrats at every turn,' Trump said of the campaign's legal battles in battleground states.

He vowed not to give up fighting but his options are growing narrower. There have been few reports of election fraud and his campaign has offered no proof of any illegalities in the contest.

'We will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government. I will never give up fighting for you and our nation,' Trump said.

On Thursday night, he launched an astonishing, 17-minute tirade from the White House briefing room where he claimed to be the victim of a conspiracy by big tech, big money, the Democrats and the media. 

In a statement on Friday morning, his campaign team said the election was 'far from over'. They said it was a 'false projection' that Biden would win and that they had evidence to prove it. They have presented none so yet. 

The President went on a 2.30am Twitter rampage then resumed it at around 11.30am. 

Biden has been quiet. He spoke last night at a press conference on Thursday evening, telling the country to be 'calm' and to wait for the results but that he was confident he as on the path to victory.  

Trump is refusing to accept what Biden's team is calling the 'inevitable'.

'This election is no over. The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final.  Georgia is headed for a recount, where we are confident we will find ballots improperly harvested, and where President Trump will ultimately prevail. 

'There were many irregularities in Pennsylvania, including having election officials prevent our volunteer legal observers from having meaningful access to vote counting locations.

'We prevailed in court on our challenge but were deprived of valuable time and denied the transparency we are entitled to under state law. 

'In Nevada, there appear to be thousands of individuals who improperly cast mail ballots. 

'Finally, the President is on course to win Arizona outright, despite the irresponsible and erroneous 'calling' of the state for Biden by Fox News and the Associated Press. 

'Biden is relying on these states  for his phony claim on the White House, but once the election is final, President Trump will be re-elected,' Matt Morgan, his campaign general counsel, said. 

Biden's team in response told Bloomberg: 'As we said on July 19th, the American people will decide this election. 

'And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.' 

His reluctance to accept the result poses an unprecedented scenario for the country and the world. 

It will make Biden's transition to power, should he be win enough electoral college votes, more difficult.

Many networks on Thursday night refused to air Trump's speech. 

ABC, CBS and NBC  cut away from the press conference before it finished, warning their viewers that Trump had made 'a number of false statements' that needed clarifying. MSNBC was the first to cut away, as anchor Brian Williams warned 'here we go again'. Fox News and CNN covered it in full.

In a series of tweets sent at 2.30am, Trump continued his tirade - attacking social media regulation, making baseless claims of fraud, casting doubt over several close Senate races, and calling on the Supreme Court to intervene.  

Having narrowly won the swing states of Wisconsin and Michigan, he has more routes to the White House open to him - with Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina yet to be called. 

A win in Pennsylvania would hand him the presidency even if all the other states go to Trump. Holding his lead in Arizona and Nevada would also hand him the win.

Meanwhile Trump needs most of the outstanding states to go his way to stand a chance of winning.

Biden also gave a speech Thursday, calling for calm and patience while the votes are counted, insisting once again that when the dust has settled he will have beaten Trump.

'Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience as well,' the former vice president said from the stage of Wilmington's Queen theater late Thursday afternoon.

'So I ask everyone to stay calm, all people to stay calm. The process is working. The count is being completed and we'll know very soon.'

He also tweeted: 'No one is going to take our democracy away from us. 

'Not now, not ever. America has come too far, fought too many battles, and endured too much to let that happen. Keep the faith, folks.' 

Meanwhile Donald Trump Jr gave a speech in Georgia, calling for his father to 'fight to the death' and urging him to 'go to war' to 'expose all of the fraud that has been going on for far too long.'

'Americans need to know that this is not a banana republic and right now very few people have faith that's not the case,' he added. 

At the podium in the briefing room on Thursday night, President Trump read from from a script and listed his grievances at Biden's campaign, 'suppression polls' and 'fraud.'  

The scene in front of the White House early on day three after election day for the 2020 Presidential election

Journalists from all over the world wait for the result of the US Presidential elections on Black Lives Matter Plaza in front of the White House on November 6, 2020 in Washington

'Loser' signs outside the White House on Friday as President Trump refused to accept he was likely going to lose the election 

Eviction notice signs at the White House on Friday morning as Trump refused to accept the results of the election 

 Protesters descended on the White House on Friday with signs calling Trump a 'fascist clown'

Joe Biden has taken the lead in Pennsylvania with 5,5870 votes and is now poised for White House victory, leading in all four of the remaining swing states, despite Trump's refusal to accept defeat and claiming he is the victim of an elaborate conspiracy.  

As of 9am EST on Friday, Biden leads 49.4% to Trump's 49.3%. 

The remaining votes in Pennsylvania - which holds 20 electoral college votes - are mostly in Biden strongholds of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania - there are around 140,000 left to count. 

Biden is also leading in Georgia, Nevada and Arizona, the remaining swing states that are to be called.

Those results are expected later on Friday but if Biden takes Pennsylvania, he needs none. 

Here is how they break down; 

• In Georgia, Biden leads by 1,067 with some 8,000 votes left to count and another 8,000 possible mail-ins from overseas military. It is worth 16 electoral college points
• In Arizona, Biden leads by 47,000 votes with another 200,000 to count
• In Nevada, Biden leads by 11,438 with some 50,000 left to count

North Carolina still has not been called. It is likely to go to Trump but makes no difference to the breakdown of electoral college seats.

Trump is refusing to accept what now seems like an inevitable defeat.  

On Thursday night, he launched an astonishing, 17-minute tirade from the White House briefing room where he claimed to be the victim of a conspiracy by big tech, big money, the Democrats and the media. 

He has vowed not to accept the final results, and his own children are telling the country to 'fight to the death' not to accept them either. 

It poses a depressing scenario for the country and the world and will make Biden's transition to power, should he be win enough electoral college votes, a nightmare.  

Trump's speech on Thursday night was so unhinged that some major networks refused to air it.

 ABC, CBS and NBC  cut away from the press conference before it finished, warning their viewers that Trump had made 'a number of false statements' that needed clarifying. MSNBC was the first to cut away, as anchor Brian Williams warned 'here we go again'. 

Fox News and CNN covered it in full.

In a series of tweets sent at 2.30am Washington time, Trump continued his tirade - attacking social media regulation, making baseless claims of fraud, casting doubt over several close Senate races, and calling on the Supreme Court to intervene. 

Joe Biden remained narrow favorite to win the presidency on Friday, with results in a number of key swing states expected before the end of the day.

Full speech: Trump makes unfounded claims of voter fraud

Trust me I won: Donald Trump takes to the White House briefing room podium to claim he won 

End of the show: As Trump spoke from the WHite House podium TV network after TV network turned off his conspiracy-theory laden tirade 

Having narrowly won the swing states of Wisconsin and Michigan, he has more routes to the White House open to him - with Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina yet to be called.

A win in Pennsylvania would hand him the presidency even if all the other states go to Trump. Holding his lead in Arizona and Nevada would also hand him the win.

Meanwhile Trump needs most of the outstanding states to go his way to stand a chance of winning.

Biden also gave a speech Thursday, calling for calm and patience while the votes are counted, insisting once again that when the dust has settled he will have beaten Trump.

'Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience as well,' the former vice president said from the stage of Wilmington's Queen theater late Thursday afternoon.

'So I ask everyone to stay calm, all people to stay calm. The process is working. The count is being completed and we'll know very soon.'

He also tweeted: 'No one is going to take our democracy away from us. Not now, not ever. America has come too far, fought too many battles, and endured too much to let that happen. Keep the faith, folks.'

Meanwhile Donald Trump Jr gave a speech in Georgia, where Trump's lead is now just a few hundred votes, calling for his father to 'fight to the death' and urging him to 'go to war' to 'expose all of the fraud that has been going on for far too long.'

'Americans need to know that this is not a banana republic and right now very few people have faith that's not the case,' he added. 

At the podium in the briefing room on Thursday night, President Trump read from from a script and listed his grievances at Biden's campaign, 'suppression polls' and 'fraud.'  

He left without taking a question as CNN's White House reporter Jim Acosta shouted: 'Are you a sore loser?' - then his press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had to scuttle back to the podium because he had forgotten to take his notes with him.

Trump's condemnation of the entire democratic system and his growing list of enemies was switched off rapidly by TV network after TV network.

MSNBC anchor Brian Williams said as they turned away less than a minute in: 'Here we go again.'

CNN was among the few channels to air the president's full speech, after which Anderson Cooper said Trump was 'like an obese turtle flailing in the sun.'

'That is the President of the United States. That is the most powerful person in the world and we see him like an obese turtle on his back flailing in the hot sun realizing his time is over,' Cooper said on air. 

'But he just hasn't accepted it and he wants to take everybody down with him, including this country.' 

Republicans also turned on him within minutes with Larry Hogan, the Maryland governor, saying: 'There is no defense. No person or election is more important than our democracy.' GOP rep Adam Klinzinger called it 'insane.'

At the briefing room podium - where the only aide with him was White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnanany - Trump appeared downcast as he listed his enemies and claimed a victory which nobody has handed to him.

'If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us,' he said during what he called a press conference.

Joe Biden tweeted a rebuke shortly after he finished saying: 'No one is going to take our democracy away from us. 

'Not now, not ever. America has come too far, fought too many battles, and endured too much to let that happen.'

Trump unloaded on the democratic process again in a series of tweets posted at 2.30am Washington time, hitting out at laws regulating social media (top), voting (center) and tight races that could decide control of the Senate

Trump, whose campaign has launched lawsuits in several battleground states, spoke more about the polls than he did about his own campaign, calling them 'phony' and 'suppression polls,' claiming that errors by pollsters were a deliberate attempt to keep his supporters at home.

Then he turned on his own party saying that because of him was no 'blue wave,'  referring to Democrats' failure to win the Senate and add to their majority in the House.

That was a coded attack on Republicans' most senior figures who have refused to come out in support of his claims of fraud. His son Don Jr. railed against Republicans earlier in similar terms - but Mitch McConnell has said that every vote must be counted.

'We won by historic numbers. And the pollsters got it knowingly wrong, they got it knowingly wrong. We had polls that were so ridiculous and everybody knew it at the time. There was no blue wave that they predicted,' Trump said. 

Trump's lead in Pennsylvania is slipping and in Georgia too Biden is creeping up on him, while Biden remains ahead in Nevada and Arizona. Biden needs only Pennsylvania to win, taking him to 273 electoral college votes, or Nevada and Arizona, taking him to 270. In contrast Trump would need to secure North Carolina, Arizona and Pennsylvania to secure 271.  

He claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy by 'big media, big money and big tech,' for 'historic election interference.'

He claimed that if all 'legal votes' were counted he would win the presidential election as he charged Democrats with trying to steal the contest 'corruptly' in a suddenly-announced White House address delivered as his voting leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia slipped further. 

At the podium in the briefing room he spoke for 17 minutes, largely reading from a script, listing his grievances at Joe Biden's campaign, 'suppression polls' and 'fraud.' 

He left without taking a question as a White House reporter shouted: 'Are you a sore loser?' 

Trump's tirade against his list of enemies was switched off rapidly by TV network after TV network.

MSNBC anchor Brian Williams said as they turned away: 'Here we go again, in the unusual position of not only interrupting the president of the United States, but correcting the president of the United States.' 

Republicans turned on him within minutes with Larry Hogan, the Maryland governor, saying: 'There is no defense. No person or election is more important than our democracy.' GOP rep Adam Klinzinger called it 'insane.'

At the briefing room podium - where the only aide with him was White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnanany - Trump appeared downcast as he listed his enemies and claimed a victory which nobody has handed to him.

'If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us,' he said during what he called a press conference.

Joe Biden tweeted a rebuke shortly after he finished saying: 'No one is going to take our democracy away from us. 

'Not now, not ever. America has come too far, fought too many battles, and endured too much to let that happen.'

Trump, whose campaign has launched lawsuits in several battleground states, spoke more about the polls than he did about his own campaign, calling them 'phony' and 'suppression polls,' claiming that errors by pollsters were a deliberate attempt to keep his supporters at home.

Then he turned on his own party saying there was no 'blue wave,'  referring to Democrats' failure to win the Senate and add to their majority in the House.

That was a coded attack on Republicans' most senior figures who have refused to come out in support of his claims of fraud. His son Don Jr. railed against Republicans earlier in similar terms - but Mitch McConnell has said that every vote must be counted.

'We won by historic numbers. And the pollsters got it knowingly wrong, they got it knowingly wrong. We had polls that were so ridiculous and everybody knew it at the time. There was no blue wave that they predicted,' Trump said. 

Trump's lead in Pennsylvania is slipping and in Georgia too Biden is creeping up on him, while Biden remains ahead in Nevada and Arizona. Biden needs only Pennsylvania to win, taking him to 273 electoral college votes, or Nevada and Arizona, taking him to 270. In contrast Trump would need to secure North Carolina, Arizona and Pennsylvania to secure 271. 

Trump had not been seen for more than 36 hours after appearing in the White House East Room at 2.30am on Wednesday morning in front of cheering fans in MAGA hats to claim then that he had 'won.'

But he spoke after Biden asked Americans to be patient and calm as they waited for the final ballots in the presidential race to be counted - amid mounting anxiety over the long wait for results, and concern about public order.

'Democracy is sometimes messy. It sometimes requires a little patience as well,' the former vice president said from the stage of Wilmington's Queen theater late Thursday afternoon.

'So I ask everyone to stay calm, all people to stay calm. The process is working. The count is being completed and we'll know very soon.'

In the same brief statement, the Democratic nominee assured supporters that he and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, would come out on top.

'We continue to feel, the senator and I, we continue to feel very good about where things stand,' Biden said. 'We have no doubt that when the count is finished Sen. Harris and I will be declared the winners.' 

Trump spent the first several minutes of his press conference reading in a monotone from a prepared speech about the election. His Democratic rival Joe Biden is on the cusp of winning the 270 electoral votes needed to take the presidency.

‘We grew our party by 4 million voters, the greatest turnout in Republican party history. Democrats are the party of the big donors, the big media, the big tech, it seems and Republicans have become the party of the American worker and that's what's happened,’ Trump said.

He accused the media of giving Biden strong poll numbers as a way of keeping his voters at home.

Biden campaign officials welcomed the results in Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday morning but did not rush to claim victory. 

'Things are moving to a conclusion — and moving to a conclusion in our favor,' one campaign official said. They say they are expecting to win Nevada, where he is ahead but where  result will not be returned until at least tomorrow. 

Trump, on the other hand, is refusing to accept it. 

He tweeted on Wednesday morning that votes for him were 'magically disappearing'. 

'Last night I was leading, often solidly, in many key States, in almost all instances Democrat run & controlled. Then, one by one, they started to magically disappear as surprise ballot dumps were counted. VERY STRANGE, and the “pollsters” got it completely & historically wrong!' he said.   

He went on: 'How come every time they count Mail-In ballot dumps they are so devastating in their percentage and power of destruction?' 

He then reposted a graphic which showed Biden's numbers by 100 percent in one count in Michigan, saying: 'WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?'  

At the same time, his campaign manager Bill Stepien laid out their strategy to question the results if Biden wins. 

He outlined the path the campaign saw, which includes a recount in Wisconsin, Trump winning more votes inM Michigan and Pennsylvania going their way in greater margins than expected.  

Donald Trump on Wednesday at 2.30am, declaring election victory despite many of the votes still being counted. He has vowed to go to the Supreme Court to challenge what he is calling a 'fraud' outcome so far 

Joe Biden made a speech just after midnight Tuesday asking Americans to be patient and claiming he would eventually be the victor despite failing to land knockout blows in Florida, Ohio and Texas 

A breakdown of the electoral college shows how much each state is worth. This was the situation before the first votes started coming in. There have not yet been any major surprises. Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan are the key swing states and Trump won Ohio and Florida

The race in the key states of Michigan and Wisconsin is excruciatingly close but Biden is inching ahead. Trump won both states in 2016. Together, they represent 26 electoral college votes

The Trump campaign is also contesting Arizona, which has been called for Biden.

‘If we count all legal ballots the president wins. The votes still being counted will come the president’s way at day’s end,’ campaign manager Stepien said.

This is the tweet Trump reposted, claiming 100 percent of new votes in one update in Michigan had gone to Biden, which he contested 

The campaign did not offer hard numbers to back up their argument and officials took no questions from the media.

Meanwhile, the Biden campaign said they expected to have declared victory by this afternoon.

‘Joe Biden is on track to win this election and he will be the next president of the United States,’ campaign manager Jennifer O'Malley Dillon told reporters. ‘We believe we are on a clear path to victory by this afternoon. 

But this year’s contentious presidential election could drag on. The Trump campaign said they expect the matter to end up in the courts.

'We are obviously leading a full court press to make sure we have our legal teams are in place to make sure all the legally cast votes are ballot,' Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said. 

Pennsylvania has said will keep counting mail-in ballots until Friday and it's unclear when a final result will come in in the other states.

Trump is currently leading there with 54% of the vote but only 65% of the ballots have been counted. He is also leading in North Carolina, with 50% of the vote. 

Once Michigan and Wisconsin are declared, it will become clear just how important those states will be when it comes to determining the final result.

Despite the overwhelming uncertainty, Trump held a victory party on Tuesday night and said at the White House: 'Frankly we did win this election. We want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any ballots at four in the morning and add them to the list.' 

He railed that the election had not been called already by TV networks and the press – although that is not their role. Trump then threatened a legal challenge –  without explaining how - saying he was going to go to the Supreme Court.

Even Republicans called his remarks 'distressing' and shocking. Biden, meanwhile, has vowed to wait for all of the votes to be counted before conceding or claiming victory.     

Biden's campaign is confident but they are not yet claiming victory

On Tuesday night, Trump claimed that a 'very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise' his voters. 'They can't catch us,' Trump complained several times, as he rattled off the current set of vote totals. 

The president also grumbled that 'somebody' - Fox News - had called Arizona for Biden. Almost as soon as he left the East Room that call was also made by the Associated Press.

Votes from major metro areas that lean Democratic - including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit and Atlanta - are still being counted, with updates not expected for several hours. The deadline in Pennsylvania for late-arriving ballots is Friday. 

Trump's statement came two hours after Biden took to a stage with his wife Jill to say that he believed he was going to win but that every vote had to be counted.

Biden had been first to speak, just after midnight, saying 'it ain't over till every vote is counted,' in an address from Wilmington, Delaware. 

In response to Trump's vow to sue and stop the count, the former VP's campaign manager Jennifer O'Malley Dillon said: '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.'

 'Nearly 100 million people cast their ballot before Election Day in the belief — and with the assurances from their state election officials — that their ballot would be counted.

'Now Donald Trump is trying to invalidate the ballot of every voter who relied on these assurances,' she continued. 

'If the president makes good on his threat to go to court to try to prevent the proper tabulation of votes, we have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort. And they will prevail.' 

Vice President Mike Pence took the podium after Trump and vowed to 'remain vigilant, as the president said.'

'We are going to protect the integrity of the vote,' Pence continued. 'But I really believe with all of my heart, with the extraordinary margins, Mr. President, that you've inspired in the states that you just described, and the way that you launched this movement across the country to Make America Great Again, I truly do believe, as you do, that we are on the road to victory and we will Make America Great Again, again.'

Trump provided little clarity about what he has in mind for his legal team after claiming falsely early Wednesday that he already 'won' the election.

Trump said he was 'going' to the Supreme Court, when in fact the course of action would be for Republican lawyers to sue in individual states and county jurisdictions seeking to stop or modify the count in some way.

If, for example, Republicans allege that there is a problem in the county in Allegheny County, PA, they first must go to court there, appeal through the Pennsylvania courts system and then if they are not satisfied, go to a federal court. Federal court decisions are appealed to the federal appeals circuit, and from there to the Supreme Court.

It is also up to the Supreme Court to decide whether it even hears a case. It can simply decline to take it which leaves in place whatever ruling the federal appeals circuit has made.

Three different federal appeals circuits are potentially involved in the Midwestern states.

Pennsylvania is in the Third Circuit, which had a majority of Trump and George W. Bush appointees; Michigan is in the Sixth Circuit which is majority Republican appointed, and Wisconsin is in the Seventh, against majority Republican.

'So we'll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court,' Trump said in a speech to supporters at the White House where he railed against TV networks for making election calls that went against him while pointing out the battleground states where he holds leads over Joe Biden.

'We want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any ballots at four in the morning and add them to the list,' Trump said.

His chief legal obstacle is that states, who oversee elections under the Constitution, are fulfilling their obligations by counting votes lawfully cast. Seeking to stop the count before all votes are accounted for would likely run into constitutional protections for 'one person, one vote' grounded in the Equal Protection clause. 

'Frankly we did win this election,' Trump said in a 2.30am speech. 'We want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any ballots at four in the morning and add them to the list'

Trump says election is a 'fraud on the American people'

'This is a fraud on the American public, this is an embarrassment to our country, we were getting ready to win this election, frankly we did win this election,' Trump proclaimed in the White House's East Room, surrounded by his family and supporters 

Vice President Mike Pence spoke after Trump's remarks and said he is confident Republicans will win the White House. Pence vowed to 'remain vigilant, as the president said'

Trump has repeatedly claimed mail-in ballots are fraudulent. However, lawyers representing his campaign and Republicans have already gone to court seeking to stop states from counting mail-in ballots after Election Day.

In the case of Wisconsin, the Supreme Court already upheld Wisconsin's voting laws requiring mail-in ballots be received by Nov. 3 to get counted. What was holding up results there was simply the process of ballots already in.

'We will win this. As far as I'm concerned, we already have won,' Trump told supporters. 

Pennsylvania is further behind in completing its count, with less than three-quarters of the vote in around 4 am. Before the election, there was reporting in the Atlantic that amid a dispute over ballots, the Republican legislature could try to send a set of pro-Trump electors if the state's vote remained undecided or contested in December.

The state was already the site of a pre-election battle that had the Supreme Court deciding 4-4 to allow mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to come in for three days after the election.

The decision itself would appear to contradict Trump's claim that he has already 'won' based on an election that has not yet been certified with ballots still allowed to come in.

In just one example of the kind of multi-front campaign GOP lawyers could have in mind, a Republican congressional candidate has sued suburban Montgomery County outside Philadelphia claiming the state improperly began its count too early. The suit accuses the county of making 'arbitrary standards' – even as Trump complains about the process of deciding the election taking too long.

The astonishing move was immediately condemned by his own party. 

Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro tweeted, 'No, Trump has not already won the election, and it is deeply irresponsible for him to say he has.'

Fox News was also critical of Trump's approach.

'This is an extremely flammable situation and the president just threw a match into it,' said Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, who moderated the first presidential debate. 'He hasn't won these states.'

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who advises Trump and helped him with debate prep, believed the president would come to regret it.

'It's a bad strategic decision. It's a bad political decision,' Christie said.

Former GOP Sen. Rick Santorum, speaking on CNN, copped it up to Trump being stressed, old and it being 2 a.m. and suggested he would walk back his comments tomorrow and say every vote needs to be counted.

'I was very distressed by what I just heard the president say,' Santorum said.

Donald Trump effectively declared victory in the deadlocked election at 2.30am Wednesday morning, calling Tuesday's election a 'fraud on the American people' and saying that he was going to the Supreme Court to demand that 'all voting stop.'

'Frankly we did win this election,' he said. 'We want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any ballots at four in the morning and add them to the list,' Trump said.

He set the stage for a titanic struggle with Joe Biden over the millions of ballots which are still to be counted - and which might not be fully counted until as late as Friday.

With Trump having kept Florida, Texas and Ohio - the biggest prizes from the battleground – the election effectively comes down to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where millions of votes remain uncounted. Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina were also counting as he spoke.

But at the White House, Trump demanded all counting stop as he boasted about the margins he had rung up already.

'This is a fraud on the American public, this is an embarrassment to our country, we were getting ready to win this election, frankly we did win this election,' Trump proclaimed in the White House's East Room, surrounded by his family and supporters.

Trump claimed that a 'very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise' his voters. 'They can't catch us,' Trump complained several times, as he rattled off the current set of vote totals. The president also grumbled that 'somebody' - Fox News Channel - had called Arizona for Biden. Almost as soon as he left the East Room that call was also made by the Associated Press.

He railed that the election had not been called already by TV networks and the press – although that is not their role. Trump then threatened a legal challenge – without explaining how.

'This is a major fraud on our nation,' he said. 'So we'll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court - we want all voting to stop - we don't want them to find any ballots at 4 o'clock in the morning.'

Votes from major metro areas that lean Democratic - including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit and Atlanta - are still being counted, with updates not expected for several hours. The deadline in Pennsylvania for late-arriving ballots is Friday.

The Biden camp hit back with a statement following Trump's vow to sue and stop the count. '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,' said Trump campaign manager Jennifer O'Malley Dillon.

'Nearly 100 million people cast their ballot before Election Day in the belief — and with the assurances from their state election officials — that their ballot would be counted. Now Donald Trump is trying to invalidate the ballot of every voter who relied on these assurances,' she continued. 'If the president makes good on his threat to go to court to try to prevent the proper tabulation of votes, we have legal teams standing by ready to deploy to resist that effort. And they will prevail.'

Trump's statement came two hours after Biden took to a stage with his wife Jill to say that he believed he was going to win – and that every vote had to be counted. Biden had been first to speak, just after midnight, saying 'it ain't over till every vote is counted,' in an address from Wilmington, Delaware.

Donald Trump made a speech from the East Room of the White House at 2.30 am where he declared victory and called the election a 'fraud on the American people' 

Joe Biden made a speech just after midnight Tuesday asking Americans to be patient and claiming he would eventually be the victor despite failing to land knockout blows in Florida, Ohio and Texas 

Vice President Mike Pence took the podium after Trump and vowed to 'remain vigilant, as the president said.'

'We are going to protect the integrity of the vote,' Pence continued. 'But I really believe with all of my heart, with the extraordinary margins, Mr. President, that you've inspired in the states that you just described, and the way that you launched this movement across the country to Make America Great Again, I truly do believe, as you do, that we are on the road to victory and we will Make America Great Again again.'

Trump provided little clarity about what he has in mind for his legal team after claiming falsely early Wednesday that he already 'won' the election.

Trump said he was 'going' to the Supreme Court, when in fact the course of action would be for Republican lawyers to sue in individual states and county jurisdictions seeking to stop or modify the count in some way.

If, for example, Republicans allege that there is a problem in the county in Allegheny County, PA, they first must go to court there, appeal through the Pennsylvania courts system and then if they are not satisfied, go to a federal court. Federal court decisions are appealed to the federal appeals circuit, and from there to the Supreme Court.

It is also up to the Supreme Court to decide whether it even hears a case. It can simply decline to take it which leaves in place whatever ruling the federal appeals circuit has made.

Three different federal appeals circuits are potentially involved in the Midwestern states.

Pennsylvania is in the Third Circuit, which had a majority of Trump and George W. Bush appointees; Michigan is in the Sixth Circuit which is majority Republican appointed, and Wisconsin is in the Seventh, against majority Republican.

'So we'll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court,' Trump said in a speech to supporters at the White House where he railed against TV networks for making election calls that went against him while pointing out the battleground states where he holds leads over Joe Biden.

'We want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any ballots at four in the morning and add them to the list,' Trump said.

His chief legal obstacle is that states, who oversee elections under the Constitution, are fulfilling their obligations by counting votes lawfully cast. Seeking to stop the count before all votes are accounted for would likely run into constitutional protections for 'one person, one vote' grounded in the Equal Protection clause. 

Trump says election is a 'fraud on the American people

Trump has repeatedly claimed mail-in ballots are fraudulent. However, lawyers representing his campaign and Republicans have already gone to court seeking to stop states from counting mail-in ballots after Election Day.

In the case of Wisconsin, which still had considerable outstanding vote Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court already upheld Wisconsin's voting laws requiring mail-in ballots be received by Nov. 3 to get counted. What was holding up results there was simply the process of ballots already in.

'We will win this. As far as I'm concerned, we already have won,' Trump told supporters. 

Pennsylvania is further behind in completing its count, with less than three-quarters of the vote in around 4 am. Before the election, there was reporting in the Atlantic that amid a dispute over ballots, the Republican legislature could try to send a set of pro-Trump electors if the state's vote remained undecided or contested in December.

The state was already the site of a pre-election battle that had the Supreme Court deciding 4-4 to allow mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to come in for three days after the election.

The decision itself would appear to contradict Trump's claim that he has already 'won' based on an election that has not yet been certified with ballots still allowed to come in.

In just one example of the kind of multi-front campaign GOP lawyers could have in mind, a Republican congressional candidate has sued suburban Montgomery County outside Philadelphia claiming the state improperly began its count too early. The suit accuses the county of making 'arbitrary standards' – even as Trump complains about the process of deciding the election taking too long.

The astonishing move was immediately condemned by his own party. 

Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro tweeted, 'No, Trump has not already won the election, and it is deeply irresponsible for him to say he has.'

Fox News Channel was also critical of Trump's approach.

'This is an extremely flammable situation and the president just threw a match into it,' said 'Fox News Sunday' host Chris Wallace, who moderated the first presidential debate. 'He hasn't won these states.'

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who advises Trump and helped him with debate prep, believed the president would come to regret it.

'It's a bad strategic decision. It's a bad political decision,' Christie said.

Former GOP Sen. Rick Santorum, speaking on CNN, copped it up to Trump being stressed, old and it being 2 a.m. and suggested he would walk back his comments tomorrow and say every vote needs to be counted.

'I was very distressed by what I just heard the president say,' Santorum said.

With the First Lady in tow, Donald Trump took the stage around 2.30am to declare victory and voter fraud 

Vice President Mike Pence spoke after Trump's remarks and said he is confident Republicans will win the White House 

Biden was handed Arizona by Fox News in a call which the White House was disputing. If it holds, it gives Biden a precarious path to victory through two of the three states.

Both he and Trump are now effectively in a stalemate which can only be ended by the lengthy process of counting mail-in ballots.

'We feel good about where we are, we really do. I'm here to tell you tonight, we believe we're on track to win this election,' Biden told supporters gathered outside the Chase Center just after midnight. He pointed to the gain of Arizona and Minnesota, which NBC News said was leaning Biden minutes before he came onstage.

'And we're still in the game in Georgia, although that's not one we expected,' Biden said. 'We feel real good about Wisconsin and Michigan. And, by the way, we're going to win Pennsylvania,' he said, getting copious honks from his drive-in crowd.

Biden said he was 'encouraged,' especially, by turnout in Philadelphia, which is adjacent to Wilmington.

'Look, we could know the results as early as tomorrow morning. It may take longer as I've said all along,' he said. 'It's not my place or Donald Trump's place to call who wins this election, that's the decision of the American people.'

'I am optimistic about this outcome,' he said.

Trump tweeted that 'they are trying to STEAL the Election' and said he will be making a statement tonight. Trump's accusation that Biden was trying to 'steal the election' was flagged almost immediately by Twitter as 'misleading'

Trump's accusation that Biden was trying to 'steal the election' was flagged almost immediately by Twitter as 'misleading'

Right before he exited he told the crowd that he and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, would be talking tomorrow.

As Biden was pulling in, the jumbotrons, which were playing MSNBC, announced that President Donald Trump had officially won Florida - the first sign Tuesday that the U.S. was in for a long night.

Big swaths of potentially Democratic votes were outstanding in places like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Detroit and Atlanta when Biden appeared.

Trump tweeted immediately after Biden's speech to accuse Biden of fraud and say he was 'winning BIG' and would make his own statement.

'Votes cannot be cast after the Poles are closed!' he tweeted from the White House residence – spelling polls incorrectly, but making clear that the battle will be over late-arriving mail-in ballots.

Biden tweeted that it is not his or Donald Trump's place to declare the winner of the election 

Trump tweeted that 'they are trying to STEAL the Election'. His accusation was flagged almost immediately by Twitter as 'misleading' 

After 1am, Nebraska's 2nd Congressional district - which is worth one electoral vote - was called for Biden.

Trump's team had determined that his support in the eastern area of the state was wobbly, with the president holding a rally in Omaha on October 27. That event made news when hundreds of the president's supporters were left outside for hours in the cold when shuttle buses couldn't reach the event site.

The gain for Biden is notable because it will prevent a 269-269 tie between the two presidential candidates. In 2016, Trump won all three of Nebraska's Congressional districts and thus all of its five electoral votes.

Trump snatched the biggest electoral prizes of the night in the closing minutes of Tuesday, as he took Ohio and Fox News declared him the winner in Florida and Texas.

But Biden scored the first takeaway of the evening as he was also given Arizona by Fox News, making the western battleground the first state to change hands from 2016.

The gain provided Biden a precarious path to victory even if he were to lose one of three Midwestern states with tight races that are part of his battle plan.

But that means the election now hinges on results which are certain to take well into Wednesday and probably even longer to be determined.