“If you count the legal votes I easily win,” Trump said in an appearance in the White House briefing room, complaining that ballots still being counted suggest to him that the election is being rigged and stolen from him.
With his re-election chances fading as more votes are counted in a handful of battleground states, Trump launched an extraordinary assault on the country’s democratic process.
Offering no evidence, Trump lambasted election workers and alleged fraud in the states where results from a dwindling set of uncounted votes are pushing Democrat Joe Biden nearer to victory.
“This is a case where they’re trying to steal an election,” Trump said.
Biden, the former vice president, was chipping away at the Republican incumbent’s leads in Pennsylvania and Georgia even as he maintained narrow advantages in Nevada and Arizona, moving closer to securing the 270 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner.
In three of the four states, the margins between the two men had tightened since Wednesday (November 4), as results from counting centers trickled in and anxious Americans waited for clarity after an exhausting and deeply vitriolic election.
Vowing lawsuit challenges, Trump said there had been “disturbing voting irregularities” across the nation.
“I have a feeling judges are going to have to rule. But there’s been a lot of shenanigans and we can’t stand for that in our country.” said Trump, before walking out of the White House briefing room without taking any questions.