Donald Trump repeats baseless 'election fraud' claim as Joe Biden urges calm
Donald Trump has repeated baseless claims of election fraud as vote counting for the US presidential race continues in a handful of states.
Speaking from the White House on Thursday night - his first public comments since Wednesday morning - the president said: “If you count the legal votes I easily won. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.”
Mr Trump did not provide any evidence of election fraud to support his claim.
The president lashed out at postal voting - despite himself voting that way - and questioned why those ballots were "so one-sided" even though he told his supporters to vote in person.
Tweeting moments before the president was due to appear, Joe Biden reiterated his comments from a briefing earlier on Thursday writing: "Every vote must be counted."
The Democrat, who is ahead in the race, added: "The people will not be silenced, be bullied, or surrender."
Mr Biden earlier urged America to "remain calm" while the count continues.
Mr Biden, who has received more than 71 million votes, the most in US history, is moving towards the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
Video report by ITV News Washington Correspondent Robert Moore
Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Mr Biden said: "In America a vote is sacred and it's how people in the country express their will and it is the will of the voters, no one not anything else that chooses the President of the United States of America."
"So each ballot must be counted and that's what we are going to see going through now."
He added: "And that's how it should be, democracy is sometimes messy but it sometimes requires a little patience and that patience has been rewarded now for more than 240 years with a system of governance that's been the envy of the world."
"Senator Harris and I feel very good about where things stand and when the count is finished Senator Harris and I will be declared the winners."
Watch presidential hopeful Joe Biden speaking in Delaware:
Mr Biden's comments came as Donald Trump's campaign team filed new legal challenges in three key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.
Those in Michigan and Georgia were thrown out on Thursday, however, allowing vote counting to continue.
Mr Trump tweeted: "All of the recent Biden claimed States will be legally challenged by us for Voter Fraud and State Election Fraud. Plenty of proof - just check out the Media. WE WILL WIN! America First!"
The president has made repeated, unsubstantiated, claims that the vote count was fraudulent - but the Democrats say Mr Trump is trying to distract from his likely loss to Mr Biden by repeatedly announcing the lawsuit.
Listen to ITV News US election podcast, Will Trump Win? with reaction and analysis to election night
The new filings by the Trump team joined existing Republican legal challenges in Pennsylvania and Nevada.
Republicans demand better access for campaign observers to locations where ballots are being processed and counted, and raised absentee ballot concerns, the campaign said.
There was one small victory for Trump's legal team on Thursday as they received a court order giving permission to go inside and observe counting in Pennsylvania from a distance of six feet.
Mr Trump referred to a "big legal win in Pennsylvania," seeming to reference the ruling, but provided no specific context.
When will a winner be announced?
Joe Biden and Donald Trump are on 253 and 213 electoral college votes respectively, with the majority of result projections already called.
The winner needs to secure 270 electoral college votes to win the presidency - the remaining states yet to be announced each carry a different amount of those votes.
Projections for six states are yet to be made - including the four remaining key battleground states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia.
Of these states, Pennsylvania is worth 20, Arizona is worth 11, North Carolina is worth 15 and Georgia is worth 16 electoral college votes.
Biden increased his lead in Nevada, when the latest figures were announced on Thursday, to boost his hopes of winning the state.
If Mr Biden is able to hold Nevada for the Democrats and turn Arizona from blue to red, it would be enough for him to secure the necessary electoral college votes and win.
The Democrats also have other routes to the White House.
Authorities in Pennsylvania have said the outcome there may be delayed until Thursday, possibly even Friday, as election officials continue to count ballots.
Mr Biden is narrowing the gap on Mr Trump and the Democrats are confident of winning in the state.
Even after one of the candidates reaches 270, there could be recounts in states which are close and possibly even a legal battle in the Supreme Court.
Protests have popped up in cities across the country, including in New York, Minneapolis, Oregon, Seattle, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and California, as the country waits for a definitive answer.
Both Mr Trump and Mr Biden have claimed to be winning since votes ended on Tuesday, with the president making the unsubstantiated assertion that there is a "fraud on the American nation" around the vote.
The coronavirus pandemic has seen a record 102 million mail-in and absentee votes cast prior to or on polling day.
These type of votes take longer to count and verify, adding to the longer than normal delay in results.
The bitterly fought election and the protracted results process have added to tensions on the streets in some American cities.
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