Trump says Biden should not 'wrongfully' declare victory after president's illegitimate claims

GOP mounts legal bids to prevent legitimate mail-in ballots from being counted

While Republicans send a volley of spurious legal challenges to undermine legally cast votes in tight races in crucial swing states, Donald Trump threatened that “legal proceedings are just now beginning” after warning Joe Biden to avoid “wrongfully” claiming victory, despite the president making similar illigitimate claims.

In a post on Twitter on Friday, after mail-in ballot counts pushed the former vice president into the lead in Pennsylvania, the president said: “Joe Biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the President. I could make that claim also. Legal proceedings are just now beginning!”

Read more: Follow the 2020 US election results live

His Democratic opponent – who was expected to deliver a prime-time address on Friday – has not claimed victory; he told supporters on Thursday that his campaign has “no doubt that, when the count is finished, Senator [Kamala] Harris and I will be declared the winners.”

In a separate post, the president said he “had such a big lead in all of these states late into election night, only to see the leads miraculously disappear as the days went by. Perhaps these leads will return as our legal proceedings move forward!”

His "lead" diminished because vote counters had not finished counting votes.

The Trump campaign and GOP officials have attempted to stymie the flow of results from mail-in ballots, as election workers continue to process thousands that were cast this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, as results begin to show a Biden lead in states that the president would need to win to seal his re-election chances. In Pennsylvania, election officials were legally prevented from counting those ballots until Election Day by Republican-controlled state lawmakers. 

Republicans filed an emergency request at the US Supreme Court on Friday to challenge mail-in ballots received in Pennsylvania after Election Day but before the 6 November deadline to count them. The state’s top election official had agreed to separate those ballots, and Republicans acknowledged in the filing that they are not aware of any county that has not adhered to that policy.

On Thursday, the president broke a 36-hour silence to deliver in-person remarks from the White House, where he amplified conspiracies, alleged widespread election fraud led by Democrats,  and presented no evidence, after he declared that “if you count the legal votes, I easily win.”

In brief remarks on Thursday, the Democratic challenger said that “the vote is sacred, it's how people in this nation express their will.”

“And it is the will of the voters, not anything else, that chooses the president of the United States of America,” he said.

He said that his campaign continues to “feel very good about where things stand.”

“We have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator Harris and I will be declared the winners,” he said." So I ask everyone to stay calm … 

The processes is working, the count is being completed. And we'll know very soon. So, thank you all for your patience. But you got to count the votes.”

“We have no doubt that when the count is finished, Senator Harris and I will be declared the winners,” he said. “So I ask everyone to stay calm … The process is working, the count is being completed, and we'll know very soon.”