Biden bids to heal America as he prepares to lead a nation divided
● Trump vows to ‘ never give up’ as Democrat rival set to seal victory
Joe Biden was last night preparing to be announced as the 46th President of the United States as the 77- year- old Democrat was set to seal victory in one of the most bitter elections the country had ever seen.
Mrbidenedgedclosertowinning the contest after overtaking the lead which incumbent Donald Trumphad held in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Georgia.
He was expected to appeal for unity and healing in his first address to the nation as its leader- elect.
The Biden camp has stressed their man hopes to position himself as the leader of all Americans, rather than just those who voted for him, in contrast to his predecessor.
But Mr Trump said he is no longer contesting "any single election " but "our entire election process".
"Wewill pursue this process through every aspect of the law to guarantee that the American people have confidence in our government; I will never giveupfightingforyouandournation," he added.
The most senior Democrat in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, was already treating victory as a given, saying it is "clear" Mr Biden would win and referring to him as "president- elect". "His election is historic," she said. Mr Biden had earlier appealed for calm and patience in stark contrast to Mrtrumpwhousedanextraordinary White House press conference to scatter unsubstantiated claims that hewas being cheated out of re- election as he launched legal battles.
Mitt Romney, the formerrepublican presidential candidatewhoranin2012, said it was "wrong" to claim the election was rigged – warning that doing so" damagesthecauseoffreedomhere" and "recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions".
Former vice president Mr Biden overhauled the Republican incumbent's leads by more than 9,000 votes in Pennsylvania and more than 1,500 in Georgia.
Mr Trump, who is mounting legal challenges to improve his chances of re- election amid baseless allegations of fraud, needed to win both of those states if he is to stay in contention.
Georgia, which the president won by more than 200,000 votes in 2016, has not been won by the Democrats since 1992. Pennsylvania, Mr Biden's birth state, was narrowly seized from the Democrats by Mr Trump in the last election.
"If you count the legal votes, I easily won. If you count the illegal votes, they
can try to steal the election from us ," Mr Trump said, speaking in the White House press briefing room.
Headded:" There was no blue wave that they predicted, they thought there was going to be a big blue wave, that was false, it was done for suppression reasons. But instead there was a big red wave and it has been properly acknowledged by the media, they were, I think, very impressed but that's after the fact."
Multiple major US television networks pulled away from the president' s statement as he provided no evidence to support any of his claims.
Oneof the most damningverdicts onthe outgoing President came from CNN news anchor Anderson cooper, who, following Mr Trump’s address, commented: "That is the president of the United States.
"That is the most powerful person in the world. We see him like an obese turtle on his back flailing in the hot sun, realising his time is over.
"He just hasn't accepted it and he wants to take everybody down with him, including the country."
Other pundits on both sides commented on the president's performance.
"This is a sad, smallman, incoherently rattling off his grievances, because there's literally nothing else he can do to stop what's happening - legally and legitimately", said SE Cupp, Republican pundit, formerly of fox news and now with cnn.
Journalist Molly Knight said Mr Trump "looks so pathetic and weak. Defeated, humiliated, over. He can't even put his heart into these lies".
The Biden campaign later released a statement reading: "As we said on July 19, the American people will decide this election.”