Donald Trump falsely claims US election victory - what we know so far

The 2020 US Election is heading for a nail-biting finish, with incumbent president Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden neck and neck in the electoral college vote count. The vote looks set to come down to a few key swing states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin in the country’s rust belt region. President Trump, who had victories called for him in Florida, Ohio and Texas, has already declared victory despite millions of ballots still to be counted in key swing states. With Biden insisting that the race is not over until all votes are counted, it could be days before the winner of the furiously fought contest is known. Who’s winning? It’s too soon to say – the race is well and truly on a knife-edge. Biden is leading Trump by 238 electoral college votes to Trump’s 214. In the popular vote Biden leads by 70,244,872 votes to Trump’s 67,438,495. Trump holds an early advantage in the key swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, though this gap is expected to narrow as the vote count reaches its conclusion. How the night unfolded 12.05am Kentucky was called for Trump with eight electoral college votes. Vermont was called for Biden with three electoral college votes. 12.35am West Virginia was called for Trump with five electoral college votes. 12.40am Virginia was called for Biden with 13 electoral college votes, taking him up to 16. 1.00am A flurry of states were called in quick succession. Trump took South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Oklahoma, giving him another 42 electoral college votes – a total of 55. Meanwhile, Biden was called to win in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island, which handed him another 69 votes, taking him to a total of 85. 1.30am Six electoral college seats were called for Trump with victory in Arkansas. 1.50am Donald Trump won Indiana. 2.00am Trump – North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Louisiana, Nebraska. Biden – New York and New Mexico. 2.30am Another three votes are given to Biden from DC. 2.35am Colorado gives Biden another nine votes. 3.00am Trump retained the state of Kansas, with six more electoral college votes 3.30am Missouri hands Trump another 10 votes. 3.55am A victory for Biden in New Hampshire gives him another four votes. 4.00am Another flurry of states put Biden further ahead with victory in California handing him 55 electoral college votes, Oregon giving seven, and 12 from Washington. 4.05am Trump gains another six votes with victory in Utah. 5.05am Hawaii gives Biden another 4 votes. 5.15am Biden wins the first swing state with Minnesota and gets another 10 electoral college votes, taking him to 223 in total. 5.20am The second swing state then goes to Trump with 18 votes from Ohio, and another three from Montana. Shortly after Trump gets another six from Iowa, giving him a total of 145. 5.38am In the biggest coup yet for Trump, he was declared the victor in Florida, seen as one of the crucial states with its 29 electoral votes. 5.47am Biden says he is “on track” to win the race for the White House as he addresses supporters in Delaware. 5.49am Trump tweets: “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!” An initial tweet says “Poles” before it is corrected to “Polls”. 6.10am Trump wins the state of Texas. 6.44am Biden wins one electoral vote from Nebraska, with Trump taking the other four. 7.32am Trump claims there is a “fraud on the American nation” and that “we did win this election” and says he will go to the Supreme Court to get vote counting stopped. 7.56am Biden wins Arizona. What did Trump say in his morning speech? Speaking from the White House at 2am Trump falsely claimed that he had won the election. He claimed there is a “fraud on the American nation” as vote counting in the US election was unfolding, before saying he would go to the Supreme Court to get vote counting stopped, as the nail-biting contest continued. Joe Biden, who has long anticipated an attempt by Mr Trump to cast doubt on the result, earlier said that his campaign was still “on track” for victory as he insisted every vote must be counted. Paving the way for a legal battle amid fears of unrest on the streets of America, Mr Trump gave a speech in the White House to say there was a “massive fraud” in the election and accuse a “very sad group of people” of trying to disenfranchise his supporters. “This is a fraud on the American public, this is an embarrassment to our country,” he said. “We were getting ready to win this election – frankly we did win this election. “So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment. “We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So we will be going to the US Supreme Court, we want all voting to stop.” What has Biden said? Earlier in the fraught night, Mr Biden took to a stage in Delaware to say “we’re feeling good about where we are”, while hoping for gains to follow in the hours and days to come. “I’m here to tell you tonight, we believe we’re on track to win this election,” he told supporters in his hometown of Wilmington. “We knew, because of the unprecedented early vote, the mail-in vote, that it’s going to take a while, we’re going to have to be patient. “It ain’t over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted.”