President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Washington.
Evan Vucci / AP Photo
Unprecedented: President Trump falsely states he won, as several key states continue counting votes
Neither Trump nor Democractic nominee Joe Biden has secured the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to win the presidency.
By Bobby Allyn/NPR
Evan Vucci / AP Photo
President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Washington.
(Washington) — In an early morning speech at the White House, President Trump made premature claims of victory in a number of key battleground states where millions of legitimate votes remain to be counted. At one point, Trump falsely stated that he had won the election.
“We were getting ready to win this election,” Trump said. “Frankly, we did win the election.”
Be patient: Results of the Nov. 3 election in Pennsylvania, and across the country, likely won’t be known for days. Here’s how WITF’s newsroom will cover election night and beyond.
Some pivotal swing states including Pennsylvnia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada remain too early to call and neither President Trump nor Democractic nominee Joe Biden has secured the 270 Electoral College votes necessary to win the presidency.
The Associated Press, which NPR follows, has not called the race yet.
Trump said “a very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise” the people who voted for him. “We won’t stand for it,” he said, without backing up his claim. Earlier, he baselessly tweeted that Democrats were trying to “steal” the election.
Trump said he plans on taking the election battle to the U.S. Supreme Court, but he did not elaborate.
“We want all voting to stop. We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4 o’clock in the morning and add them to the list,” Trump said.
There is nothing suspicious or unusual about vote counting dragging on well after Election Day. In fact, given the deluge of mail-in voting this year, election experts have long predicted that a winner would not emerge on Tuesday.
Some states, including Pennsylvania, allow ballots to be counted that arrive days after election day, as long as the mail was postmarked by Tuesday.
In his Wednesday address, Trump sounded disappointed that he could not celebrate a victory on election night.
“We were winning everything, and all of a sudden, it was called off,” Trump said. “We were just all set to get outside and just celebrate something.”
Sometimes, your mornings are just too busy to catch the news beyond a headline or two. Don’t worry. The Morning Agenda has got your back. Each weekday morning, host Tim Lambert will keep you informed, amused, enlightened and up-to-date on what’s happening in central Pennsylvania and the rest of this great commonwealth.
