US Election 2020 Results: The US will choose between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. (File)
The Republican National Committee has reached out to donors as it seeks to raise at least $60 million to fund legal challenges brought by President Donald Trump over the results of the US presidential election, two sources familiar with the matter said. The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in several states following the Nov 3 election pitting the president against Democrat Joe Biden.
Democrat Joe Biden took the lead in key battleground state Pennsylvania on Friday, where a victory for the former vice president would push him past the threshold of electoral votes needed to win the White House, official data showed.
US President Donald Trump erupted in a tirade of unsubstantiated claims that he has been cheated out of winning the US election as vote counting across battleground states early Friday showed Democrat Joe Biden steadily closing in on victory.
"They are trying to steal the election," an increasingly isolated Trump said in an extraordinary appearance at the White House on Thursday, two days after polls closed.
According to Trump, Democrats were using "illegal votes" to "steal the election from us."
Joe Biden, 77, was just one or at most two battleground states away from securing the majority to take the White House. Donald Trump, 74, needed an increasingly unlikely combination of wins in multiple states to stay in power.
Biden, who has promised to heal a country bruised by Trump's extraordinarily polarizing four years in power, appealed for "people to stay calm."
"We have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator (Kamala) Harris and I will be declared the winners," he said in comments to reporters in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
"The process is working," he said. "The count is being completed. And we will know soon."
The big shift to postal ballots this year reflected the desire of voters to avoid risking exposure to Covid-19 in crowded polling stations during a pandemic that has already killed some 235,000 Americans.
Here are the Highlights on US Presidential Election Results 2020:
US Election Result 2020: Supreme Court Turns Down Republicans' Request To Stop Pennsylvania CountThe Republicans' request to immediately halt the counting of ballots arriving after Election Day in Pennsylvania has been turned down by the Supreme Court. US Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito, referring the challenge to the full court for a ruling on Saturday, ordered Pennsylvania in the meantime to continue keeping the late-arriving ballots separate, affirming a decision already made by the state's top elections official, news agency AFP reported.
US Elections 2020: "We Need An Explanation...," Trump Tweets, Keep Up His Attack
Donald Trump kept up his attack as counting for the US elections entered the fourth day, quoting an American lawyer - Matthew Whitaker - in a tweet. "We need an explanation as to how these numbers have been running up for the last two or three days." Matthew Whitaker"- the tweet read.
US Election Result: Coronavirus To Be Key Challenge For Next President Coronavirus will remain a key challenge for the next president of the United States. The United States has set a third straight daily record for new Covid-19 infections, notching more than 127,000 cases, John Hopkins University reported Friday, news agency AFP reported.As of Friday evening, the US -- the worst hit country in the world in terms of deaths and total cases -- had more than 236,000 coronavirus-related fatalities and 9.7 million known infections.
"Leads Will Return As Our Legal Proceedings Move Forward": Trump
Biden "Should Not Wrongfully Claim" Presidency: Trump
Trump says Biden 'should not wrongfully claim' presidency, reported news agency AFP.
Republicans Divided Over Trump's "Stolen" Election ClaimsAs Donald Trump fumes over the unfolding US presidential election results, some of his fellow
Republicans in Congress have hinted that he ought to tone down his rhetoric, reported news agency Reuters. Three days after the election, votes are still being tallied in the closely fought battleground states of Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is riding an expanding lead over Trump, a Republican, that could bring him victory. Amid Trump's repeated and unfounded allegations of election fraud, Senator Roy Blunt, a member of the Republican leadership, told reporters that "at some point" the White House will have to be able to take such allegations to court and lay out the evidence. "I also don't think it's unreasonable for Biden to accept the unofficial result and do whatever he thinks he should do," he added. That unofficial result could come as early as Friday, with Biden planning an address to the nation today. Republican Senator Mitt Romney castigated Trump for claiming the election was being stolen. "Doing so damages the cause of freedom here and around the world and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions," Romney said on Twitter. However, some senior Republicans voiced support for the president's claims. House of Representatives Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Fox News: "President Trump won this election. So everyone who's listening, do not be quiet."
Biden Maintains Lead Over Trump In Four Key States
As the counting of votes for US Presidential polls continue, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has managed to maintain a lead over President Donald Trump in four key states, reported news agency ANI. According to CNN projections as of 4 pm ET (2:30 am IST), Biden is leading in the states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona, while Trump has managed a lead in North Carolina. Biden is leading Pennsylvania by 13,641 votes, Nevada by 20,137 votes, and Arizona by 39,769 votes. His lead in Georgia has been slim, with 1,616 votes. On the other hand, Trump's lead in North Carolina is by 76,737 votes.
Thousands Of Facebook Groups Buzzed With Calls For Violence Ahead Of US Election
Before Facebook shut down a rapidly growing "Stop the Steal" Facebook Group on Thursday, the forum featured calls for members to ready their weapons should President Donald Trump lose his bid to remain in the White House, reported news agency Reuters. In disabling the group after coverage by Reuters and other news organizations, Facebook cited the forum's efforts to delegitimise the election process and "worrying calls for violence from some members". Such rhetoric was not uncommon in the run-up to the election in Facebook Groups, a key booster of engagement for the world's biggest social network, but it did not always get the same treatment. A survey of US-based Facebook Groups between September and October conducted by digital intelligence firm CounterAction at the request of Reuters found rhetoric with violent overtones in thousands of politically oriented public groups with millions of members. Variations of twenty phrases that could be associated with calls for violence, such as "lock and load" and "we need a civil war", appeared along with references to election outcomes in about 41,000 instances in US-based public Facebook Groups over the two month period. Other phrases, like "shoot them" and "kill them all", were used within public groups at least 7,345 times and 1,415 times respectively, according to CounterAction. "Hang him" appeared 8,132 times.
Republicans Ask Supreme Court To Halt Count Of Late-Arriving Ballots In Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Republican Party asked the US Supreme Court Friday to halt the counting of late-arriving ballots in the state, as Democrat Joe Biden took a lead in the tally and was poised to defeat President Donald Trump, reported news agency AFP. If Biden wins Pennsylvania he wins the presidency. The last-ditch appeal for an emergency injunction asked the court to freeze the handling of thousands of mailed ballots -- most believed favoring Biden -- that arrived after election day on Tuesday, which Republicans say should be disqualified. The petition asks the court to order Pennsylvania election officials to sequester all the ballots received after Tuesday and take no action on them. The petition indicated that the Republican Party could ask the court to revisit a pre-election challenge to the Pennsylvania government's decision to accept late-arriving ballots.
Twitter Flags "President-Elect Biden" Posts As Premature
Twitter on Friday flagged as premature posts referring to Joe Biden as "president-elect," as the vote count continued in the knife-edge US election with the Democrat leading Donald Trump in several key states, reported news agency AFP. Tweets referring to the former vice president with the victor's title and his running mate Kamala Harris as "vice president-elect" were tagged with messages saying counts were not yet final. "Official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted," read a Twitter message below a post from Democratic Coalition co-founder and podcaster Scott Dworkin using the two titles for Biden and Harris. The notice came with a link to information about the status of the election. Twitter told AFP that the move was in line with its Civic Integrity Policy and in keeping with the position it has taken since the polls closed late Tuesday.
Trump Seeks Transparency In Vote Counting, Says Won't Give Up Fighting For AmericaUS President Donald Trump has sought transparency into vote counting and election certification and asserted that he will pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that Americans have confidence in the government, reported news agency PTI. "We believe the American people deserve to have full transparency into all vote counting and election certification, and that this is no longer about any single election. This is about the integrity of our entire election process," Trump said in a statement issued by his campaign on Friday.
Republican Seeking To Raise At Least $60 Million To Fund Trump Legal Challenges: Report
The Republican National Committee has reached out to donors as it seeks to raise at least $60 million to fund legal challenges brought by President Donald Trump over the results of the US presidential election, two sources familiar with the matter said, reported news agency Reuters. The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in several states following the Nov 3 election pitting the president against Democrat Joe Biden.
Some Americans Dance, Others Wield Guns Outside Vote-Tallying Sites As Counting Draws To A Close
Supporters of Joe Biden danced in the streets outside a ballot-counting center in Philadelphia on Friday as the steadily growing vote tallies showed the Democratic former vice president could soon be declared winner of the US presidential election, reported news agency Reuters. In Detroit, several hundred supporters of President Donald Trump, some visibly armed with guns, raised premature chants of "We won!" outside a counting center, despite it looking increasingly unlikely that this would prove true. Philadelphia appeared to relish its turn as the center of the nation's attention, even if it was earned only by the relative slowness of its vote counting as the biggest city in the closely fought state of Pennsylvania.
What Happened To Missing Military Ballots In Georgia: Trump
Wall Street Pauses As Biden Edges Closer To Victory
Wall Street's main indexes took a breather on Friday after sharp gains this week as Democrat Joe Biden edged closer to victory in a nail-biting election, while the monthly jobs report underlined the economic challenge facing America's next president, reported news agency Reuters. Biden took the lead over President Donald Trump in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Georgia, putting him on the verge of winning the White House hours after Trump falsely claimed the election was being "stolen" from him".
Trump "Wrong To Say Election Was Rigged": Republican Mitt Romney
Republican US Senator Mitt Romney said Friday it was wrong for Donald Trump -- on the verge of losing the presidency to Joe Biden -- to claim that the election was "rigged, corrupt and stolen" by Democratic rivals, reported news agency AFP. While the president is "within his rights" to request recounts and seek investigations into alleged voting irregularities, as his supporters claim occurred, "he is wrong to say that the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen," said Romney, an occasional Trump critic. "Doing so damages the cause of freedom here and around the world, weakens the institutions that lie at the foundation of the Republic, and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions."
Biden To Address Nation Tonight: Campaign Official
Joe Biden will deliver an address to the nation tonight as he takes the lead in voting in key states needed to win the US presidential election, a campaign official said, reported news agency AFP. Biden -- who has stopped short of claiming victory but has been called "president-elect" by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- will speak later in the day from his home city of Wilmington, Delaware, the official said on condition of anonymity.
Trump Alleges "Attack By Radical Left Dems On Republican Senate"
Philadelphia Police Probe Alleged Plot To Attack Vote Counting Venue
Philadelphia police said on Friday they were investigating an alleged plot to attack the city's Pennsylvania Convention Center, where votes from the hotly contested US presidential election were being counted, reported news agency Reuters. Local police received a tip about a Hummer truck with people armed with firearms driving toward the vote counting venue late on Thursday, a Philadelphia Police spokesman said in an emailed statement. Police arrested two men and seized their firearms as well as the Hummer truck about which they had received the tip, the spokesman said, adding the probe was being conducted by the police and the FBI. "The males acknowledged that the silver Hummer was their vehicle, and an additional firearm was recovered from the inside the Hummer," the spokesman added. No injuries were reported and no further details about the alleged plot were disclosed.
Top Democrat Nancy Pelosi Calls Biden "President-Elect"
Top Democrat Nancy Pelosi calls Biden "president-elect", reported news agency AFP.
Georgia Says Will Recount Razor-Thin Vote
The US state of Georgia said Friday it will recount votes from the election in which Joe Biden has eked out a razor-thin lead over President Donald Trump, reported news agency AFP. "With a margin that small, there will be a recount in Georgia," Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told reporters in Atlanta.
#StopTheSteal, Trump Supporters' Viral Offensive To Discredit Election
All it took was a Facebook page and a hashtag: As election tallies trickled in Donald Trump supporters were busy going viral, accelerating the unsubstantiated claim that Democrats were "stealing" the election under the rallying cry #StopTheSteal, reported news agency AFP. It lived just 48 hours but the page quickly racked up 350,000 members, people subscribing to the conspiracy theory the Republican president too has been touting to his 88 million Twitter followers. Trump's social media "influencers" -- his son Donald Trump Jr, or the spokesperson of the Republican party Elizabeth Harrington -- also played key roles in spreading the falsehood. And it wasn't long before the hashtag, already popular with Republicans during the 2018 midterms, translated into concrete protests.
Strong Bipartisan Support For Indo-US Ties: India On US Election
As the world awaits the result of the US presidential election, India on Friday said the global strategic partnership between the two countries have a very strong bipartisan support in the US, suggesting that the bilateral ties will not be impacted by the poll outcome, reported news agency PTI. "We are also awaiting the election results," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said during an online media briefing while replying to questions on impact of US presidential outcome on the Indo-US ties.
Donald Trump Jr Questions Biden Numbers In Cliffhanger US Elections
Free And Fair Elections Foundation Of Our Democracy: Ivanka Trump
"This Election Is Not Over": Trump Campaign"This election is not over," announces Trump Campaign on Twitter.
Democrat Joe Biden On Verge Of VictoryDemocrat Joe Biden took the lead in key battleground state Pennsylvania on Friday, where a victory for the former vice president would push him past the threshold of electoral votes needed to win the White House, official data showed.
US Secret Service Tightens Biden Security As He Edges Toward Win: Report
The US Secret Service has increased its protective bubble around Joe Biden as chances increased that he will be the next US president, the Washington Post reported Friday. The Secret Service sent an extra squad of agents to Biden's campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware as expectations rose that the Democratic candidate would be able to declare victory over President Donald Trump as early as Friday, news agency AFP said quoting a report by the Post. The Secret Service, an agency under the Department of Homeland Security, is in charge or protecting the White House and senior government officials, visiting high officials, and others. It had already deployed some agents to protect Biden around early July after he triumphed in the Democratic Party's presidential primaries. As a former vice president, Biden could have requested Secret Service protection before then, but reportedly did not. If Biden becomes president-elect, Secret Service protection is expected to ramp up to a higher level.
Despite Decades-Old Trump-Erdogen Ties, Turkey Ready To Work With Whoever Wins US Vote
Turkey is ready to work with whoever wins the US election, two top Turkish officials said on Friday, despite a friendship with President Donald Trump that has helped the two countries through turbulent times, reported news agency Reuters. "Regardless of which candidate takes office in the US, we will pursue a sincere approach to improve our relations," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. The decades-old partnership between the NATO allies has gone through unprecedented tumult in the past five years over disagreements on Syria policy, Ankara's closer ties with Moscow, its ambitions in the eastern Mediterranean, US charges against a state-owned Turkish bank and an erosion of rights in Turkey.
US Election Hanging On Results In Five Key States
The outcome of the US presidential election remained in the balance early Friday as a handful of battleground states complete their vote counts, reported news agency AFP. Democrat Joe Biden has racked up at least 253 of the 270 electoral votes that he needs, according to US network projections -- and 264 if Arizona is included, which Fox News and The Associated Press have called in his favor. Donald Trump has amassed 214 electoral votes so far, and is still in contention in several states that would afford the Republican incumbent a path to reelection. Overnight, Biden pulled ahead in the count in the southeastern state of Georgia, which has 16 electoral votes, but it remains too close to call. Nevada, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania are still up for grabs.
"America More Than A One-Man Show": German Foreign Minister On US Vote
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Friday urged both sides in the US election to show restraint until the results were available, adding it was irresponsible to aggravate tensions, reported news agency Reuters. "America is more than a one-man show. Anyone who continues to pour oil on the fire in a situation like this is acting irresponsibly," Maas told Germany's Funke media in unusually blunt language. "Now is the time to keep a cool head until an independently determined result is available," he added in some of his first comments on the situation. Counting was continuing in the extremely close US presidential election which hinges on razor-thin margins in a handful of states.
Georgia Runoff Gives New Life To US Senate Bid Of Pastor Of Martin Luther King's Church
The pastor who now holds the pulpit where slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr once preached was thrust into the national spotlight this week when Georgia officials ruled his US Senate campaign would be decided by a January runoff, reported news agency Reuters. Rev Raphael Warnock, a Black Democrat, faces an uphill battle in trying to unseat Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, a wealthy businesswoman who was appointed to the seat in the conservative-leaning state after its former occupant retired. The January 5 contest is certain to attract a great amount of money and media interest as it has the potential, along with another Senate race in the state that may also go to a runoff, of helping determine which party takes control of the US senate next year.
Democrats Blame Gerrymandering, Campaign Strategy For Failure To Flip State Legislatures
Democrats spent $50 million trying to win control of state legislatures in 2020, but the effort mostly failed, cementing regional power in their more conservative Republican opponents over such issues as abortion, education and criminal justice, reported news agency Reuters. The losses also mean that in most of the 29 states with Republican-controlled legislatures, Democrats will not have a say in how Congressional districts are drawn when the once-a-decade process kicks off in 2021. That will make it more difficult for voters in more liberal areas of those states to elect their party's candidates to both the House of Representatives and statehouses for another 10 years.
Trump, Biden Protesters Duel Outside Vote-Counting Centers In Cliffhanger Election
Supporters of President Donald Trump, some carrying guns, ramped up demonstrations on Thursday night against what he has baselessly called a rigged election, in battleground states where votes were still being counted, reported news agency Reuters. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, although Trump supporters occasionally shouted with counterprotesters. Trump says the election is being stolen but there has been no evidence of fraud. In Arizona, one of the closely contested states in the too-close-to-call race between Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, Trump and Biden supporters briefly scuffled outside the Maricopa County Elections Department in Phoenix. Several heavily armed right-wing groups assembled on the site as election workers counted votes inside, but the protests remained mostly peaceful despite mounting tension.
"Twitter Out Of Control": Trump Lashes Out As Micro-Blogging Site Flags His Posts
US President Donald Trump lashes out at Twitter for flagging his tweets questioning the vote-counting process.
"Supreme Court Should Decide!": Trump Tirade Over Alleged Illegal Votes
"They Are Trying To Steal The Election": Trump Erupts As Biden Closes In On Presidency
President Donald Trump launched a tirade of unsubstantiated claims that he had been cheated out of winning the US election, as vote counting across battleground states early Friday showed Democrat Joe Biden closing in on victory, reported news agency AFP. Biden's momentum towards the White House built further with major media outlets reporting he had overtaken Trump by a razor-thin margin in the crucial battleground state of Georgia. "They are trying to steal the election," an increasingly isolated Trump said in an extraordinary appearance at the White House on Thursday, two days after polls closed.
Biden Takes Narrow Lead In Georgia, Putting White House In Reach
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden took a narrow lead over President Donald Trump in the battleground state of Georgia for the first time early on Friday, putting the White House within his reach as it and other undecided states continue to count ballots, reported news agency Reuters. Biden has a 253 to 214 lead in the state-by-state Electoral College vote that determines the winner, according to most major television networks. Winning Georgia's 16 electoral votes would put the former vice president on the cusp of the 270 he needs to secure the presidency. Biden, 77, would become the next president by winning Pennsylvania, or by winning two out of the trio of Georgia, Nevada and Arizona.
JustIn| Joe Biden pulls ahead of Donald Trump in Georgia, votes still to count: Report
Gloved And Masked, US Vote Counters Keep Focused On Historic TaskIf it were at another time, what they were doing could seem like nothing much, maybe office sorting of some kind.
But the stakes could not have been higher on Thursday as workers in masks and gloves stood over folding tables to verify and count, one by one, the remaining ballots in the yet to be decided US presidential election.
The world was watching -- and so, of course, were the campaign teams for President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden along with their teams of lawyers.
Huge numbers of journalists from around the world were gathered, staking out space to record what will be a historic moment.
There was often not much to see -- just workers going about their task, sure and steady, dressed casually, sometimes with lanyards and IDs around their necks.
They made their way through a mountain of mailed ballots, the preferred method for many voters this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, checking their validity then sorting and running them through counting machines.
Two Detained Outside Pennsylvania Vote Count Center: ReportUS police have detained two men outside a Philadelphia polling station in Pennsylvania, a battleground state yet to declare a winner in the presidential election, local media reported Friday.
Ballot counting continues in four crucial states days after Tuesday's vote, with Democrat Joe Biden still confident of capturing the presidency from incumbent Donald Trump.
Trump, narrowly ahead in Pennsylvania, has made unsubstantiated claims about vote rigging in these key states.
Shortly after 10 pm (0300 GMT) two men were detained outside the Philadelphia Convention Centre where vote counting is ongoing, according to the Philadephia Inquirer.
The local newspaper said the men were detained following a tip-off, first reported by 6ABC Action News Thursday night, that an armed group were heading to the center.
Supporters of US President Donald Trump hold signs and chant slogans during a protest outside the Philadelphia Convention Center as votes continue to be counted following the 2020 US presidential election.
YouTube Channels Making Money From Ads, Memberships Amplify Trump Voting Fraud Claims
At least nine popular YouTube channels were promoting on Thursday debunked accusations about voting fraud in the U.S. presidential race, conspiratorial content that could jeopardize advertising and memberships revenue they get from the video service.
Reuters found the channels, ranging from ones with 1,000 followers to more than 629,000, endorsing claims that fact-checking units of the Associated Press, Reuters and other organizations have deemed false or inaccurate.
YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc's Google, has rules that forbid channels using its revenue-generation tools from making "claims that are demonstrably false and could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process."
Google said it was reviewing videos from the nine channels as well as others and may suspend ads and membership sales, a penalty commonly known as "demonetization," if violations are found.
Claiming voter fraud is widespread or that mail-in ballots cannot be trusted would be in violation, but highlighting people who say they experienced voter fraud or making hyperbolic statements about a political party "stealing" the election would not, Google said.
With ballot tallying ongoing in a few states whose results will decide the hotly contested race between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Trump has made unsubstantiated accusations about the Democratic party stealing the election. Trump's supporters have rallied behind the misinformation on social media and in protests outside vote-counting sites.
Trump Senate Allies Attack Legitimacy Of Vote Count
Two Senate allies of Donald Trump on Thursday warned that Republicans may reject the legitimacy of vote results if they turn against the embattled president.
As a few Republicans distanced themselves from Trump's unsubstantiated allegations of fraud in Tuesday's election, Senators Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz enthusiastically backed him in back-to-back appearances on Fox News.
"I'll tell you the president is angry and I'm angry and the voters ought to be angry," Cruz told the network's host Sean Hannity, whose evening show is a favorite of Trump.
Cruz alleged falsely that Pennsylvania's Democratic attorney general had ordered vote-counting in the state's largest city of Philadelphia "until Joe Biden wins."
"We need to get in there now," Cruz said of voting centers.
Pennsylvania officials say they will continue counting votes from Tuesday's election until they have accounted for all ballots.
US Networks Break From Live Trump Address Due To "Lies"
Several US TV networks late Thursday halted live coverage of Donald Trump's first public appearance since election night after concluding that the president was spreading disinformation.
Trump unleashed a flood of incendiary and unsubstantiated claims in a 17-minute address, insisting that Democrats were using "illegal votes" to "steal the election from us."
The president spoke as late vote counting in battleground states showed Democrat Joe Biden steadily closing in on victory.
"OK, here we are again in the unusual position of not only interrupting the president of the United States but correcting the president of the United States," said MSNBC anchor Brian Williams, as the network quickly ended its live coverage.
NBC and ABC News also pulled the plug on their live coverage of Trump.
"What a sad night for the United states of America to hear their president say that, to falsely accuse people of trying to steal the election," said CNN's Jake Tapper.
He described it as "lie after lie after lie about the election being stolen," with no evidence, "just smears."
US Election 2020 Results: Trump Campaign Attacks Fox News Polling Expert Who Called Arizona For Biden
US President Donald Trump's campaign on Thursday attacked the person at Fox News responsible for the network's projection calling Arizona for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as a "Clinton-voting, Biden-donating Democrat."
With Arizona in Biden's column, he would have 264 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House, putting him closer to victory and narrowing his Republican opponent's path to re-election.
Trump's campaign website said, "decision desk" director Arnon Mishkin "prematurely called Arizona for Joe Biden before hundreds of thousands of ballots had been counted. Even left-leaning election analysts like (FiveThirtyEight's) Nate Silver have criticized the decision, but Mishkin is standing by his terrible decision despite and refusing to retract his unjustified call."
The website added that Mishkin: "has a long record of donating to Democrats, including the 2008 Obama-Biden campaign."
Fox News, controlled by Rupert Murdoch's Fox Corp, declined to comment. Mishkin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
US Election Hanging On Results Of Key States
The outcome of the US presidential election remained in the balance late Thursday as a handful of battleground states complete their vote counts.
Democrat Joe Biden has racked up at least 253 of the 270 electoral votes that he needs, according to US network projections -- and 264 if Arizona is included, which Fox News and The Associated Press have called in his favor.
Donald Trump has amassed 214 electoral votes so far, and is still in contention in several states that would afford the Republican incumbent a path to reelection.
Expected to report final vote counts Thursday night or Friday are Georgia (16 electoral votes), North Carolina (15), and Nevada (6).
However, mail-in ballots sent on or before Election Day in North Carolina can be counted until November 12.
Biden could reach the magic number to gain the White House with a win in any of the three, if he keeps Arizona. Trump needs to capture all three to stay competitive.
Here is a look at the situation in the key states that are still up for grabs, and paths to victory for each candidate:
Nevada
Nevada, where Biden is favored, could put him precisely at the number needed to win, if he keeps Arizona. With more than 89 percent of the vote counted, Biden was leading by less than 11,500 votes.
North Carolina
In North Carolina, Trump had a comfortable lead of around 77,000 votes with 95 percent of the ballots, about 5.38 million, tabulated.
Georgia
In Georgia, Trump's razor thin lead over Biden has been steadily slipping away to less than 2,500 votes, with about 98 percent counted.
Biden could pull in the lion's share of the final votes being counted -- less than 19,000 remained as of Thursday evening -- which include thousands in Democratic-leaning areas.
Georgia has not chosen a Democrat for president since Bill Clinton in 1992.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is the biggest prize remaining, with 20 electoral votes. As in Georgia, Trump is currently leading, but the majority of votes left to be counted are in Democratic-leaning areas like greater Philadelphia.
As of Thursday evening, Trump's lead had dwindled to about 50,000 votes, with 92 percent of the ballots counted.
Arizona
One wild card that could upset these calculations: Arizona. Fox News and The Associated Press have already called the state's race in Biden's favor, but other networks including CNN and NBC have said it's still too close to call.
Arizona's Secretary of State Katie Hobbs told ABC News that she did not expect a final count on Thursday -- but also that she doesn't expect a recount.
"It's not looking like today, probably closer to tomorrow that we'll be closer to getting through all those ballots," Hobbs said.
On Thursday evening, Biden had a lead of about 46,000 votes with about 90 percent of the ballots counted.
US Election 2020 Results: Donald Trump Sons Stand By Their Father's Election Claims
While Donald Trump's political allies remained silent or distanced themselves Thursday from the US president, increasingly alone in his fight against what he says is widespread election "fraud", his oldest sons declared their filial loyalty.
Donald Trump Jr., the eldest, called on his father in a tweet to wage "total war" against the cheating that he believes is tainting the presidential election.
The inflammatory tweet was framed by some, including the New York Post, as a clear sign of growing panic in the Trump camp over Joe Biden's chances of winning the White House.
"The best thing for America's future is for @realDonaldTrump to go to total war over this election to expose all of the fraud, cheating, dead/no longer in state voters, that has been going on for far too long," Don Jr. wrote on his Twitter account, where he regularly retweets conspiracy theories.
He did not provide any evidence of the cheating he alleged was going on.
"It's time to clean up this mess & stop looking like a banana republic!" he added, before deriding the "total lack of action" from Republicans, naming some -- such as South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, usually a staunch Trump ally.
US Election 2020 Results: Donald Trump Loses Legal Fight In Georgia And MichiganUS President Donald Trump's campaign lost court rulings in the closely-contested states of Georgia and Michigan on Thursday, even as it vowed to bring a new lawsuit challenging what it called voting irregularities in Nevada.
In the Georgia case, the campaign alleged 53 late-arriving ballots were mixed with on-time ballots. In Michigan, it had sought to stop votes from being counted and obtain greater access to the tabulation process.
State judges tossed out both the suits on Thursday.
Judge James Bass, a superior court judge in Georgia, said there was "no evidence" that the ballots in question were invalid.
In the Michigan case, Judge Cynthia Stephens said: "I have no basis to find that there is a substantial likelihood of success on the merits."
US Election 2020 Results: Donald Trump Accuses Democrats Of Trying To "Steal" US ElectionUS President Donald Trump erupted Thursday in a tirade of unsubstantiated claims that he has been cheated out of winning the US election as vote counting across battleground states showed Democrat Joe Biden steadily closing in on victory.
"They are trying to steal the election," Trump said in an extraordinary statement at the White House two days after polls closed.
Providing no evidence and taking no questions afterward from reporters in the room, Trump used the remarks of nearly 17 minutes to make the kind of incendiary statements about the country's democratic process that have never been heard before from a US president.