Key points:
- Just six states left to declare and Biden in strong position – live results here
- The Democrat overtakes Trump in Pennsylvania – winning there would be enough on its own to clinch the White House
- Biden also leads in Georgia – a reliably Republican state – with mail-in ballots driving the swing. He is up narrowly in Arizona and Nevada
- What are the numbers? Biden is on 253 Electoral College votes in the race to 270. He needs: Pennsylvania (20) or two of Arizona (11), Georgia (16), Nevada (6) and North Carolina (15)
- Trump is pursuing legal action in at least four states – though he has lost a bid to stop the count in Michigan – and he also wants a recount in Wisconsin
- The incumbent president stunned onlookers with a White House statement full of unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in key states where his fortunes have turned
- Several US networks stopped broadcasting the statement and Biden dismissed it as ‘desperate’
- What could happen today? Georgia and Pennsylvania are the states most likely to declare next, but many votes including sizeable absentee military ballots still need to be counted
- Live reporting by Sunita Patel-Carstairs, news reporter
![](https://amnewsworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/ami-banner.png"/)
Key points:
Update from Pennsylvania – Biden overtakes Trump
Joe Biden now leads Donald Trump in Pennsylvania by 5,587 votes – or 0.1%.
Here is the current margin in the votes:
This could be crucial . It could be decisive.
If Biden wins Pennsylvania, there is no way back for Trump.
270 Electoral College votes are needed to win the presidency – and Pennsylvania is worth 20.
The Democrat challenger currently has 253. If he wins Pennsylvania that would take his tally to 274 and across the required threshold for the keys to the White House.
Just joining us? Here is where we are at now
The election is deep, deep into extra time but we are still none the wiser on who has won.
In a dramatic turn of events. Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in Georgia – a reliably Republican state – with mail-in ballots driving the swing.
The Democrat’s path to the White House is now looking more achievable than Trump’s, and he is in ‘no doubt’ he’ll win as he nears victories that would take him to 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency.
Biden has 253, and just needs to win Georgia (16) or Pennsylvania (20), or two of Arizona (11), Georgia (16), Nevada (6) and North Carolina (15) to take the keys from Mr Trump.
If Biden wins Georgia, there is no way Trump can win the election – the best he can do is tie, and that is only by winning all five of the remaining states. And then, the election will be decided by Congress.
If Biden wins Pennsylvania, there is no way back for Trump.
While Trump alleges a corrupt election and pursues legal challenges in several states, election officials across the US say they fear for their staff’s safety amid threats and harassment from protesters, spurred by the incumbent president’s claims.
But there are many more votes to be counted in the key battleground states, including sizeable military ballots.
The election remains too close to call – yet.
Facebook bans ‘Stop The Steal’ group over calls for violence
Facebook has banned a group which, inspired by unsubstantiated claims from Donald Trump, was featuring calls for violence over concerns the election was being “stolen” by the president’s rivals.
It comes as Joe Biden took the lead in the key state of Georgia, while Donald Trump doubled down on his claims political opponents were trying to rig and steal the US election, despite criticism from some Republicans.
The group issued a call for donations as well as “boots on the ground to protect the integrity of the vote”, and had rapidly grown in popularity since Wednesday. Read more here.
How mail-in ballots are shaping the US election
Donald Trump has called the postal voting system a “joke” and claimed it will lead to a rigged result in the end – continually undermining the legitimacy of the democratic process for months.
But critics have said he has wanted to sabotage postal voting from the outset, and he has been accused of underfunding the national postal service in the run up to polling day to prevent it from coping with the unprecedented volume of mail-in votes.
Machines were decommissioned and restrictions put on staff overtime – feeding into the theory that he was trying to disrupt the election.
This is largely because more Democrats are likely to have voted by post, choosing to cast their ballots from the safe haven of their homes, than stand in long queues for hours during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the weeks running up to the 3 November election, more Democrat voters (51%) said they planned to vote by post than Republican voters (26%), and both parties filed lawsuits in dozens of states to define the rules over how the votes are tallied.
Since the polls closed, the president has called for counting to stop and has launched legal action in several states in an attempt to halt the counting of postal votes.
The ongoing counts in crucial swing states have shown vast swathes of mail-in votes have favoured Mr Trump’s Democrat rival Joe Biden, who has edged ahead in Georgia and is rapidly making gains in Pennsylvania too, with 11 and 20 Electoral College votes up for grabs, respectively.
If he wins Georgia, it would still be mathematically possible for the president to continue the fight for a tie by taking all remaining states. The election will then be decided by Congress.
But if Mr Biden wins Pennsylvania, it would be enough to win the presidency.
Legend sings Georgia classic in election tribute
John Legend has posted a smooth rendition of “Georgia On My Mind” on Twitter.
The singer posted a video of his version of the classic Ray Charles song to celebrate Joe Biden taking the lead as the count continues in the key battleground state.
Here are the current margins in the five remaining key battleground states
Joe Biden is slowly increasing his lead in Georgia and narrowing the gap in Pennsylvania where more mail-in votes are being counted.
The Democrat challenger leads the counts in Arizona and Nevada.
The president leads in North Carolina.
Just six states left to declare – but no winner yet
The election is still too close to call as Joe Biden overtakes Donald Trump in Georgia, slowly makes gains to cut into the incumbent president’s lead in Pennsylvania as mail-in ballots continue to be counted, and maintains narrow leads in Arizona and Nevada.
Alleged plot to attack vote counting centre in Philadelphia
Philadelphia police have said they are investigating an alleged plot to attack the city’s Pennsylvania Convention Centre where votes are being counted.
Officers received a tip about a Hummer with armed people driving up from Virginia with plans to attack the building, a police spokesperson said.
They took at least one man into custody – and seized a weapon.
The pictures below have been sent in by the Sky News team out there.
This morning his hummer is still sitting in the street with QAnon stickers in the windows.
Red dawn over Washington DC, but is a blue wave on the way?
‘The flip in Georgia isn’t just about demographic change’
Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in Georgia.
Georgia races have grown increasingly tight in the past few years, which is why the key battleground state has been a Democrat target.
Since losing the state’s race for the governorship by only 50,000 votes, Stacey Abrams and her voter rights organisation, Fair Fight, have helped register more than 800,000 new voters in the state.
Trump and Biden: What are they saying?
A nice bit of historical symmetry, perhaps?…
Officials threatened with violence as pro-Trump protests intensify
Election officials across the US say they fear for their staff’s safety amid threats and harassment from protesters, spurred by Donald Trump’s claims of a corrupt election.
Groups of Trump supporters have gathered outside vote tabulation sites in Phoenix, Detroit and Philadelphia, decrying counts that showed Democrat Joe Biden leading or gaining ground.
It comes as Facebook removed a fast-growing group in which Trump supporters posted threats of violence. Read more here.
Rose McGowan breaks arm after falling over while reading US election results
As US election counts go down to the bone, Rose McGowan’s dedication to keeping across results has landed her in hospital.
The 47-year-old actress and activist shared a photo on Instagram that showed her wearing a face mask and a cast on her left arm.
McGowan explained the cause of her injury was politics related, writing in her post: “Reading US election results while on the stairs = bone break.” Read more here.
Biden in the lead in Georgia
In a dramatic turn of events. Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in Georgia – a reliably Republican state – with mail-in ballots driving the swing.
The Democrat’s path to the White House is now looking more achievable than Trump’s.
Update from Georgia – Biden increases his lead over Trump
Joe Biden is continuing to slowly build up a small lead in the key battleground state, and is now 1,096 votes ahead of Donald Trump there.
Both candidates remain neck and neck on 49.4%.
But the question remains – if the Democrat stays ahead and wins the state, will the vote be big enough to avoid a recount?
What are the rules for requesting a recount in Georgia?
Unlike some states Georgia does not automatically initiate a recount under state law. Here’s a look at the regulations:
Can a recount be requested?
Yes, a recount can be requested if the margin is less than or equal to O.5%. The recount must be requested within two business days after county certification. Election officials may also request counts under certain circumstances. There are no set deadlines for completion.
Under Georgia law, recounts may be requested under the following conditions:
State law does not specify who is responsible for costs associated with a requested recount but the secretary of state’s office has indicated that the state covers all costs.
Is a refund available for requested recount costs?
Not applicable. According to the Secretary of State, the state covers the cost of requested recounts.
Can a partial recount be requested?
No
Eyewitness: Arizona protests: Crowd erupts as conspiracy theorist Alex Jones shows up
By Helen-Ann Smith, in Phoenix, Arizona
Night two of protests outside the Elections Office in Phoenix, Arizona, and tensions were ratcheting up.
Protestors here believe some ballots have been spoiled by marker pens seeping through the paper – a concern investigated and then debunked by Arizona’s Republican attorney general.
The atmosphere was calm to begin with, but then there was a sudden commotion.
A surprise entrance from America’s far-right conspiracy theorist in chief, was met with roars from the crowd.
Alex Jones is so extreme he’s been banned from Facebook, Twitter and Google, but he was greeted here as a hero.
A few counter-protestors armed with signs of Donald Trump as a caricatured pig tried to spoil the show.
Things began spilling out into the road, tempers flared and it felt for a moment like things could turn ugly.
Thankfully others stepped in urging calm and things dissipated.
But it speaks to the volatility of the climate.
This isn’t a large group but their views hang heavy around this election, their fears stoked by a president embattled.
The race here is razor-tight and getting tighter. We may not know the outcome for a few days
Analysis: Biden overtaking Trump in Georgia ‘a very, very significant moment’
By Alistair Bunkall, Sky News correspondent
It is a major moment in the final stages of this presidential race. Joe Biden has finally taken the lead in Georgia.
If that lead persists and he doesn’t lose it to Donald Trump, and there is actually no suggestion that he would, he will win all 16 Electoral College votes, taking him from 253 where he is currently, to 269.
That means that Donald Trump has no way of winning this presidential election if Joe Biden keeps his lead in Georgia.
But we are not expecting it to be declared for some time as the margins are so tight, and there is quite a sizeable absentee military ballot that needs to be counted.
But this is a very, very significant moment, because it is a state that has been red for many, many years, with the exception of Bill Clinton in 1992 and Jimmy Carter in 1980.
So for Joe Biden to capture Georgia would be a big coup and once the dust settles on this election, once everything has been counted, fought over and agreed upon, it could be that states like Georgia have taken it from being a marginal victory into quite a sizeable victory for him.
Update from Georgia – Biden takes the lead over Trump by 917 votes
Democratic candidate Joe Biden has taken the lead against Donald Trump in the key state of Georgia in the 2020 US presidential election, according to the latest poll results.
The former vice president has been slowly gaining ground in the crucial swing state, with 99% of the ballots in. There were signs Mr Biden would edge forward as the difference between the pair came down quite considerably through the night.
Both candidates remain neck and neck on 49.4%. It’s going down to the wire. Just a handful of votes could decide the state winner.
But the question remains – if Mr Biden stays ahead and wins the state, will the vote be big enough to avoid a recount?
270 votes are needed to win the state-by-state Electoral College – and the presidency. Georgia is worth 16 Electoral College votes.
If Mr Biden takes it, it would increase his lead in the White House race to 269. This would mean Mr Trump would have to win every single other remaining state to tie the race.
If they tie – the election would be decided by Congress. The newly elected House of Representatives would choose the president and the Senate would choose the vice president. Each state would get one vote in the House, with a simply majority – 26 votes or more – needed to win.
The last time a tie happened was in 1800, between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
Eyewitness: Trump’s core supporters fear their man is losing and want someone to blame
By Stuart Ramsay, chief correspondent in Las Vegas, Nevada
The remarkable 16-minute speech by Donald Trump effectively trashing the whole United States electoral system has resonated with his core supporters who fear their man is losing and want someone to blame.
In Nevada they gathered outside the Clark County election centre where 90% of the last 190,000 mail-in ballots are being counted.
The counting centre is in Las Vegas – the desert gambling town that leans heavily Democrat.
The race is tight but Mr Biden could scoop the six electoral votes available with a good showing here.
The Trump supporters want the counting to stop claiming they have evidence of widespread violations.
Like the president they offered no evidence, just hearsay allegations.
Into the night a few hundred gathered on the main highway outside the counting station waving flags and shouting “stop the steal”.
Cars beeped their support, many more carried people swearing at them to go home.
A few dozen police oversaw what was a relatively light-hearted event.
The main organizers of the protest are adamant that they will stop the counting and are promising greater numbers tomorrow.
One of them, a young man named Michael, said that the gathering was a local community action of people concerned that their Republican votes would be ignored.
“There will be many more people here on Friday, maybe even double the number,” he said. “We also think there are counter protests organized so maybe the police will be here too,” he told me, adding: “This count will be stopped.”
In the midst of the Trump supporters there were three counter protesters standing by quietly, holding “Just Keep Counting” signs.
One of them told me he saw the Trump supporters on the news and decided to come down because he lives nearby. He vowed to come back if the protests continue.
The problems caused by Mr Trump’s unfounded claims and simple falsehoods could far out-weigh the short time he took to deliver them.
Tensions are high and people seem genuinely traumatised all in a country awash with weapons and conspiracy theories.
Here are the current margins in the five remaining key battleground states
Joe Biden is slowly narrowing the gap in Georgia and Pennsylvania where more mail-in votes are being counted and are cutting into Donald Trump’s early leads in those states.
The Democrat challenger leads the counts in Arizona and Nevada.
The incumbent president leads in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Update from Georgia – Trump now leads by just 463 votes
Joe Biden is continuing to reduce Donald Trump’s lead in the key state, with 99% of the votes counted.
Both candidates remain neck and neck on 49.4%.
It’s going to be very close and Mr Biden could flip the state. It’s certainly leaning that way.
There’s no evidence of widespread voter fraud – certainly not to extent it could tilt or steal election, says lawyer
Lawyer Michael Yaki tells Sky News’ Kay Burley: “There is no voter fraud. There certainly is no widespread voter fraud, not enough to tilt an election.
“I think the percentage is somewhere .0000187 of people actually do commit voter fraud, they frequently get caught and it is a felony – a very big deal in the United States.
“So it doesn’t happen, not to the extent that they are saying and certainly not to the extent that it could tilt or it could steal a presidential election.”
Trump supporters won’t accept the result of an election with so many irregularities – Students for Trump member
Investigating allegations of possible voter fraud should not be a partisan issue, says a Donald Trump supporter.
“This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. This shouldn’t be something that the Republicans are the only ones looking at. This should be an entire effort by both sides, Ryan Fournier, from Students for Trump, tells Sky News’ Kay Burley.
“This is a historic time in this country,” he says, and mail-in ballots have never been done on this scale.
He says the US postal service “can barely deliver birthday cards on time and yet we have expected them to handle this in a fashionable manner”.
GOP needs to tell Trump to step aside after the votes are counted – former Democrat senator
Former US senator for North Dakota Heidi Heitkamp tells Sky News’ Kay Burley: “I don’t think anyone really doubts that Joe Biden will be president-elect when this count is done.
“There just is not any really foreseeable path forward for Donald Trump to be re-elected.
“The real question in our country is how will this transition happen? And how can we move forward from this very, very divisive and divided country that we have.”
Asked what her message is to Republican voters who believe this election is being stolen from them, the Democrat replies: “I think there are very few Republican voters who believe that. I think the reaction in this country to what Donald Trump did has been very, very universally negative.
“We are waiting for some elder fathers and mothers of the Republican Party to step-up and say, ‘that’s not what we are in this country, we are a country that was built on the rule of law and our democracy is more than one person, and you need to step aside after the votes are counted and in fact you lose’.”
She added: “I live in a very red state and there have been no protests here in North Dakota in favour of Donald Trump.
“Everyone is waiting to get the final vote count and then once that is done I think you will see people say, ‘I don’t like it, I don’t like what happened, but I accept the results of an election’.”
Police investigate alleged plot to attack vote counting centre in Philadelphia
Philadelphia police have said they are investigating an alleged plot to attack the city’s Pennsylvania Convention Centre where votes are being counted.
Officers received a tip about a Hummer with armed people driving up from Virginia with plans to attack the building, a police spokesperson said.
They took at least one man into custody – and seized a weapon as well as the vehicle.
No injuries were reported and no further details about the alleged plot were disclosed.
The result in Pennsylvania could be decisive in deciding the presidency.
Mr Trump now has 49.5% of the vote, and Mr Biden is on 49.2%. It’s a wafer-thin margin.
There are still lots of votes to be counted yet, specifically in Philadelphia, a Democrat stronghold.
Update from Georgia – Trump now leads by just 665 votes
Joe Biden continues to claw back votes in this key battleground state, where Donald Trump’s lead has been cut to just 665 votes, with 99% of the ballots in.
It is the first time Mr Trump’s lead has been reduced to just three figures.
Both candidates remain neck and neck on 49.4%.
It’s going down to the wire. Just a handful of votes could decide who takes the state.
The battleground states that are making the difference in the result
The 2020 election campaign has been marked by the division in US society.
Joe Biden has picked up several states. But Donald Trump’s support held up in numerous areas within those states.
And Mr Trump’s support increased among groups which have been traditionally seen as being pro-Democrat.
We take a look at the key conflict zones which are deciding who will end up in the White House. Read the full story here.
Just six states left to declare and the election is still too close to call – live results here
What is happening in three key states – and what could this mean for the White House race?
Sky’s Alistair Bunkall explains the state of play in three of the key battleground states which could determine whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden wins.
GEORGIA
Donald Trump has the lead there, but it is a lead that is being whittled away by Joe Biden. Mr Trump’s lead has now been cut to 1,267 votes and it’s a dead heat – 49.4% for both candidates. 99% of the votes have been counted. The big questions here are, with the outstanding votes that need to counted, are there enough for Joe Biden to continue the direction of travel that he is in at the moment, and overhaul Donald Trump? And even if he does, will he do it by enough to avoid a recount? I doubt it.
ARIZONA
Joe Biden has a lead of 47,052 and he is increasing his lead. This would be a good win for the Democrats, But there is something going on in Arizona that is different to the other states. And that is that Donald Trump is catching Joe Biden – which is a phenomenon we are not seeing elsewhere. Again, I think the same applies to Arizona as it does to Georgia, but just in reverse. With what is left to be counted, is there enough there for Donald Trump to regain Arizona from Joe Biden? And he needs to, because Donald Trump’s path back to the White House is getting narrower virtually by the hour.
PENNSYLVANIA
One of the rustbelt states. What was called the “blue wall” is being rebuilt by Joe Biden. This could be crucial . It could be decisive. The lead there for Donald Trump at the moment is 18,229. Overnight it has been coming down quite considerably.
Trump tweets he is the winner with ‘legal votes cast’
Donald Trump has once again declared himself the winner in a tweet in which he continues to dispute the election and make unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in key states where his lead over Joe Biden is narrowing due to mail-in ballots.
The incumbent president is pursuing legal action in at least four states – though he has lost a bid to stop the count in Michigan – and he also wants a recount in Wisconsin as his supporters hold protests across the US.
Once again, Twitter flagged the tweet and accused the president of spreading information that “is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process”.
Several of Mr Trump’s tweets since the start of the presidential election have had to be flagged by the social media platform.
Update from Georgia – Trump’s lead cut to less than 1,000 votes
Joe Biden is continuing to close the gap in this key battleground state.
Donald Trump’s lead is now just 1,267 votes with 99% of the votes in.
Both presidential candidates are now neck and neck with around 49.4% of the vote each.
But the questions remain – are there enough votes left for the Democrat to take over the lead from the president – and if he does, will it be big enough to avoid a recount?
Update from Pennsylvania – Trump’s lead narrows to below 20,000 for the first time
With 96% of the votes counted, Joe Biden is closing in on Donald Trump in the state which is worth 20 Electoral College votes.
Mr Trump now has 49.5% of the vote, and Mr Biden is on 49.2%. It’s a wafer-thin margin.
There are still lots of votes to be counted yet, specifically in Philadelphia, a Democrat stronghold.
Just waking up and need a catch-up on where we’re at?
You can click or tap through the map below to see which states are blue, which are red, and which we’re still waiting on before we can determine who has won the presidency.
You can also click or tap here for our full breakdown of the votes in each state – most importantly, the battlegrounds yet to declare.
The key numbers from those battleground states can also be seen underneath the map below.
Democrats confident of victory in Pennsylvania
Joe Biden is going to win Pennsylvania, a bullish senior Democrat official has told Sky News.
Jason Robert Henry, executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, told Kay Burley that he was “not concerned at all” about Donald Trump’s various legal challenges in states where his lead over Mr Biden is under threat – including Pennsylvania.
“Joe Biden is going to win this state because the votes are there for him,” said Mr Henry.
“If you look at Joe Biden’s performance in a lot of these blue collar counties, he did actually increase his vote share across Pennsylvania.
“And even in more red counties, more rural areas, Joe Biden has done significantly better than 2016.
“Donald Trump sold the people of this state a false bill of goods, and yes he has his ardent supporters, but there’s a significant amount of them who realise that what he sold them is fake and the result is going to show that Joe Biden is going to win this state and people are tired of the drama of the last four years.”
At the time of the last update, Donald Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania was down to 22,576.
There were less than 180,000 votes left to count, including around 72,000 in Philadelphia, which leans heavily towards the Democrats.
If Mr Biden wins Pennsylvania, he wins the presidency. It’s worth 20 Electoral College votes and he only needs 17 more to win.
Update from Georgia
Donald Trump now leads Georgia by just 1,709 votes.
If Mr Biden does end up winning Georgia, its 16 electoral votes would take him just one shy of the 270 he needs to win the presidency.
Update from Arizona
Joe Biden’s lead in Arizona has risen slightly to 47,052 votes.
Unlike other key states yet to declare, Donald Trump has been the one closing the gap here – so this latest update bucks that trend.
Mr Trump had been tightening the gap because Arizona has a very robust system of early voting, as explained by Sky’s Helen-Ann Smith, who is in Phoenix, earlier.
Four in five voted early in the 2018 midterms, so the state is used to it, and the mail-in ballots this time round have already been counted.
Most of the remaining ballots are likely to be those who voted late on election day, which are more likely to be Republican and are therefore helping Donald Trump close the gap.
Arizona is worth 11 electoral votes – winning here would take Mr Biden to 264 (six away from the presidency) and Mr Trump to 225 (45 away from the presidency).
Analysis: Fracture lines exposed between Republican loyalists and Team Trump
By James Matthews, Sky correspondent, in Washington
History may call it the death rattle of this presidency. Right now, the election needs called first.
As the country’s verdict crystallised and the TV ‘big screens’ increasingly showed a map turning Democrat blue, Donald Trump addressed journalists inside the White House.
The voting figures had formed in him a melancholic mode and he read, low-key, from a paper script through familiar, baseless, accusations of an election “stolen”.
However, he didn’t present so much a president pickpocketed and ready for robust challenge. Rather, the tone was resigned.
If this was a set-piece media event to lay out a convincing case for legitimate challenge, it fell short – short of a White House lawyer or two to give detail and credibility on where and why the courts would see fit to become involved.
Donald Trump’s advisers had reportedly advised him against rolling out his allegations of electoral fraud but he ignored them. A fraught election can put distance between a president and his people and there’s increasing evidence of it.
The Republican Party has filed in obediently behind Donald Trump throughout his term but unity has been undermined by his denouncing the country’s democratic process. The fracture lines stretched onto social media.
Maryland’s Republican governor Larry Hogan tweeted: “There is no defense for the President’s comments tonight undermining our Democratic process.”
Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger tweeted: “STOP Spreading debunked misinformation… This is getting insane.“
Twitter – where else – was the arena for Family Trump to engage in the fight. A series of tweets from Eric and Don Trump Jnr, sons of Donald, screamed at Republicans in an effort to shake them for support.
Eric Trump tweeted: “Where are Republicans! Have some backbone. Fight against this fraud. Our voters will never forget you if your (sic) sheep!“
Therein lies the dilemma for the Republican party. The “our voters” of whom Eric Trump tweets number nearly 70 million after Tuesday’s election. It’s a huge voter base that every Republican needs, whether Donald Trump remains in the White House or not.
The Trump warning to Republicans is “back him or else”. The incumbent president needs the wider support of the movement to add momentum and political clout to any court challenge
Many Republicans would prefer to see Donald Trump recycled out of the party for the party’s sake. Enabling such a scenario comes with risk to personal and party ambition.
Not for the first time with this president, it is a balance of priorities and principles.
Trump claims election is ‘rigged’
In case you missed it earlier, Donald Trump appeared in front of the cameras for the first time in more than 24 hours on Thursday night to make more unsubstantiated claims about the election.
As seen in the video here, he claimed mail-in ballots had been undermined by voter fraud, that the election was “rigged”, and that the Democrats were working to “steal” it from him.
The president has provided no evidence to back up his claims – nor has his team.
More tension as Trump lead narrows in Georgia
This video from earlier Thursday gives you some sense of just how tense the race has become in Georgia, with Trump supporters getting anxious at how much Joe Biden is closing the gap.
The president’s lead did grow slightly at last count – up to 1,805 votes.
But Mr Biden has still made huge inroads over the last 24 hours by dominating the mail-in ballots. If he does end up winning Georgia, its 16 electoral votes would take him just one shy of the 270 he needs to win the presidency.
Update from Pennsylvania
Donald Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania is now down to 22,576.
There are now less than 180,000 votes left to count, including around 72,000 in Philadelphia, which leans heavily towards the Democrats.
If Mr Biden wins Pennsylvania, he wins the presidency. It’s worth 20 Electoral College votes and he only needs 17 more to win.
Twitter flags more Trump tweets
Donald Trump tweeted several clips from his controversial address at the White House earlier this evening – three of the four videos he shared have now been hidden by Twitter.
“Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process,” the warnings on each of the tweets say.
The president’s address contained numerous unfounded claims of voter fraud in key states where his lead over rival Joe Biden is narrowing due to mail-in ballots.
He used his statement to cast doubt on the entire American democratic system and suggested the election was being “stolen” from him.
Several US news networks stopped broadcasting the president’s address well before it was over, including NBC and USA Today.
COVID-19 cases in US break record for second day in a row
A record number of coronavirus cases have been reported in the US on Thursday, breaking what had been a new high on Wednesday.
Some 120,048 people tested positive for COVID-19 across America on Thursday, according to NBC News. That’s almost 16,000 more confirmed cases than there were on Wednesday.
There have now been more than 9.6 million infections nationwide and more than 236,000 deaths – both are the highest totals in the world.
Joe Biden has made the pandemic a key focus of his campaign, criticising Donald Trump’s response. But polls have suggested that the economy remained the most important issue for most voters this year.
Update from Pennsylvania
Donald Trump’s lead in Pennsylvania is now down to 24,484.
There are approximately 180,000 votes left to count, including 72,000 in Philadelphia, which leans heavily towards the Democrats.
Just under 14,000 of the latest votes to have been counted were from Philadelphia and Mr Biden took almost 12,000 of them.
If Mr Biden wins Pennsylvania, he wins the presidency. It’s worth 20 Electoral College votes and he only needs 17 more to win.
Need a catch-up on where we’re at in the White House race?
You can click or tap through the map below to see which states are blue, which are red, and which we’re still waiting on before we can determine who has won the presidency.
You can also click or tap here for our full breakdown of the votes in each state – most importantly, the battlegrounds yet to declare.
Those protesting outside Clark County Election Department in Las Vegas, Nevada, are calling for the counting of mail-in ballots, which largely favor Joe Biden, to stop. Sky’s Stuart Ramsay is there and says the protests, organized in advance, have largely been peaceful so far.
Protestors are gathered outside Clark County Election Department in Las Vegas, Nevada, where votes are still being counted with Joe Biden currently holding a narrow lead over Donald Trump.