#US ELECTION: I have won, Trump claims victory as counting of votes is ongoing

In an extraordinary late-night address on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said he had won reelection even though the race was too close to call, Yahoo News reported on Wednesday.

The president also questioned the election process, indicated that he wanted all vote-counting ended and suggested he would challenge in court any attempts to continue reviewing ballots.

“This is a fraud on the American republic. This is an embarrassment to our country,” Trump said to a crowd of supporters in the East Room of the White House. “We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.”

Despite the president’s bluster, none of the major media decision desks officially named a winner. Trump’s opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden made his own statement calling for “patience.” Even though he indicated that the result would not be known until “tomorrow morning” or “maybe even longer,” Biden suggested that he was headed for triumph.

Trump began his speech by framing the election as a battle between “millions and millions of people” who voted for him “and a very sad group of people … trying to disenfranchise that group of people.

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“We won’t stand for it,” Trump said. “We will not stand for it.”

He then proceeded to list several states where he said he had won. Trump cited some states that had been called for him — including the key battlegrounds of Florida and Ohio — as well as Georgia, where there were no official results. President falsely implied that the counting had been halted because he was “winning everything.”

“All of a sudden everything just stopped,” Trump said.

However, counting has not stopped in multiple states, including the final mix that will prove decisive. The lack of an official result and extended counting process is largely due to the unprecedented volume of mail-in ballots that were cast as voters stayed home due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Around the country, more Democrats tended to vote by mail, meaning there could be an advantage for Biden in the outstanding ballots in key states. In his address from the White House, Trump indicated that his campaign would challenge any attempts to keep counting ballots.

“We’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop,” said Trump. “We don’t want them to find any ballots … and add them to the list.”

The president said the situation was a “very sad moment” and repeatedly claimed he had won.

“We will win this, and as far as I’m concerned we already have won it,” he said.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE