Biden Prepares Victory Speech, Trump Is Still Talking About Resistance

Illustrated / VOI

JAKARTA - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is getting closer to winning the US Presidential Election as his vote lead widens over Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the states of Pennsylvania and Georgia.

Republicans meanwhile are seeking to raise $ 60 million ($ 15 million) to fund lawsuits challenging the results of the vote in the states of Pennsylvania and Georgia.

Trump remains defiant, vowing to prosecute claims of fraud in the US Presidential Election. However, Trump's demands lack evidence.

On the fourth day of the vote count, former Vice President Biden took the lead with 253 Electoral Colleges, while Trump got 214 Electoral Colleges, according to Edison Research.

Securing 20 electoral votes in the state of Pennsylvania would place Biden in the top 270 Electoral College he needs to win the presidency after a political career spanning nearly five decades.

Biden will also win the US Presidential Election if he wins in two of the other three major states of Georgia, Arizona and Nevada where he narrowly wins until Friday, November 6 local time.

The three states are still processing ballots until Friday, November 6 local time.

As Biden's lead rose in Pennsylvania, hundreds of Democrats gathered outside the vote-counting booth in downtown Philadelphia, wearing yellow shirts that read "Count Every Vote." In Detroit, a crowd of Trump supporters, some armed, protested outside the counting site, waving flags and chanting, "Fight!"

Biden plans to deliver a speech on Friday, according to two people with knowledge of his schedule. The campaign is expected to be a victory speech.

Meanwhile, Trump has shown no sign he is ready to give up, as his campaign team is pursuing a series of lawsuits that legal experts say is unlikely to change the outcome of the election.

"We have said from the start that all valid ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots should not be counted, but we have encountered resistance to this basic principle by Democrats at every opportunity," Trump said in a statement released by his campaign team. Antara from Reuters.

"We will continue this process through every aspect of the law to ensure that the American people have confidence in our government," Trump said.

Trump has previously launched an extraordinary assault on the democratic process, appearing at the White House late Thursday to claim the election was "stolen" from him. Election officials across the country say they are unaware of significant irregularities.

The Republican National Committee is looking to raise at least $ 60 million from donors to fund the lawsuits Trump has brought, said two sources with knowledge of the matter.

In Pennsylvania and Georgia, Biden took over from Trump's position as officials processed thousands of ballots sent by mail in given urban Democrats including Philadelphia and Atlanta.

The number of Americans voting earlier and by mail has spiked this year because of the coronavirus as people try to avoid large voters on Election Day. The methodical counting process has left Americans waiting longer than they have since the 2000 elections to find out the winner of the presidential contest.

One adviser said Trump was not ready to admit defeat in the US presidential election.

The campaign's general adviser, Matt Morgan, confirmed in a statement on Friday that elections in Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania were irregular and Trump would eventually win in Arizona.

He also said the campaign was expected to pursue a recount in Georgia, as it said it would do in Wisconsin, where Biden won by more than 20,000 votes. Such a wide margin has never been overturned by a recount, according to Edison Research.

Georgian officials said on Friday they expected a recount, which candidates could request if the final margin was less than 0.5 percent, as is currently the case.

Biden expressed confidence on Thursday that he would win. Responding to the idea that Trump might not give up, Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement on Friday, "The United States government is perfectly capable of escorting intruders out of the White House."

Momentum Biden

If Biden wins, he may face the difficult task of governing divided Washington.

Republicans can remain in control of the US Senate pending the outcome of four undecided Senate elections, including two in Georgia likely to be decided in January's second round, and they are likely to block most of its legislative agenda, including expanding healthcare and fighting climate change.

The heated US presidential election campaign comes amid a pandemic that has killed more than 235,000 people in the United States and left millions more jobless. The country has also grappled with months of protests over racism and police brutality.

In Pennsylvania, Biden led Trump for the first time and led 13,558 votes by midday Friday, while in Georgia, he was ahead of 1,579 votes.

Both margins are expected to increase along with the count of additional ballots. Pennsylvania officials estimated Friday they had 40,000 ballots left to count, while Georgian officials said Friday morning there were about 4,000 regular ballots remaining.

Biden, 77, will become the first Democrat to win Georgia since fellow Democrat Bill Clinton in 1992.

In Arizona, where officials say at least 142,000 uncounted ballots remain, Biden's lead is 41,302 votes. His margin in Nevada, where there are 63,000 ballots left to count, jumped to 20,352.

Pennsylvania, one of three traditional Democratic states to give Trump victory in the 2016 US presidential election, has long been seen as pivotal to the 2020 election, and both candidates spend large sums of money and time in the state.

While many rural areas in Pennsylvania continue to support Trump, Democrats are strong in big cities like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Trump, 74, attempted to portray the slow tally of incoming ballots as fraud. He has released a series of social media posts claiming baseless fraud, prompting Twitter and Facebook to add warning labels.