were duplicating ballots. but when observers attempted those poll workersjumped observers attempted those poll workers jumped they couldn't see what they were doing. and it became a little bit dangerous. one major hub for accounting ballots in detroit covered up the windows again. with large pieces of cardboard so they wanted to protect and block the counting area. they didn't want to count although these we re didn't want to count although these were legal observers that were supposed to be there. in detroit there were hours of unexplained delay for many of the votes for accounting. the final batch did not arrive to five in the morning. even though the polls closed at eight o'clock they brought it in and the batches came in and nobody came to an acne where they came from. we've also been denied access to observe in critical places in georgia. in multiple swing states, counting was halted for hours and hours on election night. with results

withheld for major democrat locations only to appear later. and they certainly appeared all had the name by them on them are just about almost all. they all had the name biden on them which is a little strange. i challenge joe biden on them which is a little strange. i challengejoe and every democrat to clarify that they only wa nt democrat to clarify that they only want legal democrat to clarify that they only wa nt legal votes democrat to clarify that they only want legal votes because they talk about votes and i think they should use the word legal votes, we want every legal vote counted. i want every legal vote counted. i want every legal vote counted. i want every legal vote counted. we want openness and transparency, no secret count rooms, no mystery ballots, no illegal votes being cast after election day. you have election day and the laws of very strong on that. you have an election day and they don't want votes cast after election day. they want the process on its own so day. they want the process on its own so important. we want an honest election and honest count. and we wa nt election and honest count. and we want honest people working back there because it's a very important

job. so that's the way this country is going to win, that's the way the united states will win. and we think we will win the election very easily. we think there is going to bea easily. we think there is going to be a lot of litigation as we have so much evidence, so much proof. and it's going to end up perhaps at the highest court in the land. we will see. we think there will be a lot of litigation because we can't have an election stolen like this. i tell you, i have been talking about this for many months with all of you. and isaid for many months with all of you. and i said very strongly that male and ballots are going to end up being a disaster. small elections, small very easy to handle elections were a disaster. this is a large scale version and it's getting worse and worse every day. we hearing stories that are horror stories, absolute horror stories. and we can't let that happen to the united states of america. it's not a question of who wins, republican, democrat, joe, myself. we can't let that happen to oui’ myself. we can't let that happen to

our country. we can't be disgraced by having something like this happen. so it will be overly cleared up, maybe soon, i hope soon. but it will probably go through a process, a legal process. as you know i claim certain states and he's claiming states and we can both claim the states and we can both claim the states but ultimately i have a feeling judges are going to have to rule. but there has been a lot a shenanigans and we can't stand thank you very much. 0k, donald trump they‘ re leaving thank you very much. 0k, donald trump they're leaving the white house press briefing room after speaking for about half an hour. he came out and the first words he said were, "if you count the legal votes, i easily when, if you count the illegal votes, they will try to steal it from us." we should point out that these things are not true. the voids that are being counted at the moment are

perfectly legal votes. nobody has been declared a winner, nobody can declare themselves a winner yet, because not enough legal votes have been counted yet to give either of the candidates above 270. the bbc‘s anthony's isjoining us. he's in washington. anthony, fact checkers are going through that speech and are furious because they say that it is riddled with inconsistencies and things that are not true. basically, the president over the course of half an hour tried to build the case that this election was being stolen from him that he had one but because of the legal shenanigans to do with votes that he claims were illegal, it's being stolen from him, fact check again, that is not the case, so what did you make of it? yes, he didn't give any concrete evidence of allegations of impropriety. he talked about how the vote count changed over the course of the evening, how he was ahead early, and then it got slowly chipped away. well, the reason for that was because democrats

voted primarily by mail ballots, and a lot of these key states like michigan, like wisconsin, like pennsylvania, they couldn't start counting they couldn't start counting the mail ballots until after the mail ballots until after the polls closed. so, by that simple fact, the early in person votes were counted, donald trump had a lead, and then as the states counted mail ballots, joe biden has been slowly catching up. whereas in a state like florida, where they counted all of their mail ballots ahead of time, biden had the lead in the beginning, and it was donald trump who began catching up. so i think he's trying to present as evidence of fraud when in fact, thatis evidence of fraud when in fact, that is just a reflection of the way the system was working. he was talking about observers being allowed making the case that the publican observers we re that the publican observers were not allowed into places where these ballots were being counted. that is not grounded in truth. that, in fact, there are observers aloud, what republicans wanted was more observers and they wanted them more closely. take for instance in detroit, each site had a chance to have 134 observers where the ballots were being counted, their publica ns

where the ballots were being counted, their publicans and the democrats wanted to have more observers and, 200 or more and the city said no, you cannot have that many. there we re cannot have that many. there were people pressed up against the glass trying to peer into the glass trying to peer into the building, that's why they put the paper up. i think overall, just the general observation is that donald trump kind of sounded tired there. he didn't sound his normal energetic confrontational self the way he did on wednesday morning when we saw him at two in the morning coming up to speak to his crowd. i guess we are all kind of tired now. it's been a long couple of days, but i think that was kind of reflected in the face he was putting on, all of the eskenazi was making those allegations. yes, i thought that as well. i thought it was kind of low energy, and it was interesting. two things are interesting, you are quite right, he called a press c0 nfe re nce , are quite right, he called a press conference, but it wasn't really, because at a press conference commute to questions from members of press, he didn't take any questions from members of press. it was all pretty much reading what he had on paper. he riffed a little bit, but a lot of it was reading points that he had on paper, and my overwhelming impression, just like yours,

was that he seemed tired and slightly defeated, i think would be a legitimate, now, that doesn't mean he's going to lose. he still is a pathway to the white house, but he came across as somebody who was full of energy normally come and we have seen him at those rallies doing five rallies in four states the day before the election, again, full of energy, this was relatively brief by the standards of donald trump from it was mostly read from a piece of paper, and it wasn't the kind of combative history trump that we are so used to seeing, just to pick up on one of the other things that he talked about, he talked about election counters finding sacks of votes around the place, again, what is he referring to and what is the veracity of that claim? you know, there was an allegation made in georgia that some of the late arriving mail ballots we re the late arriving mail ballots were being brought in and mixed in with the ballots that arrived before election day. republicans brought a lawsuit from that lawsuit was thrown

out because the people who were running for county presented evidence that there was no releva nce to evidence that there was no relevance to that allegation. there have been allegations are getting among social media as well that there impropriety is being conducted, but even in the press conference, for instance, there was a press conference in nevada, las vegas earlier today with some of donald trump campaign surrogates. they alleged all of these various improprieties, fraud on ballot counting, but they never presented specific evidence to support their allegations that out—of—state people were voting or deceased people were voting or deceased people were voting or deceased people were voting. it's all kind of based on anecdotes, but donald trump picks up on those anecdotes and he runs with them because as i mentioned, he consumes news from the conservative media sphere, and then amplifies that from the white house itself. 0k, then amplifies that from the white house itself. ok, let's speak to ron christie, republican strategist and former adviser to george w.

bush. ron, you have been in the white house many times in situations where the president goes out to address the public and address of the members of the press. why do you think donald trump came out this evening to talk to the press for half an hour? what was the objective behind that appearance was black? my sense here is that this —— he feels like he needs to come out and state his case to the people having been to the meetings when i worked for george w. bush, we were very deliberate in using the president's time before the podium to make a strong case to the american people. this to me sounded a lot like a the back of the envelope written certain grievances set of grievances that the president articulated as to why he feels like he's in this predicament. the most valuable commodity that the president of the united states has is their time in their ability to come before the american people. so this was an opportunity missed. this was an opportunity missed. this was an

opportunity wasted. i think a lot of people who may have been sympathetic to the president, i think he may have something important to say, looked at that and said thisjust sounds like somebody who is bitter and oi'i like somebody who is bitter and on the verge of potentially using the office that he is honoured to occupy. ron, also logical inconsistencies there, because at one point, president talked about being cheated because biden is picking up states as the accounting carries on of these mailed in ballots. but at another point comey talked about picking up votes a nd comey talked about picking up votes and arizona, and it's in arizona that actually the counting is carrying on because of these mailed in ballots, writes? i mean commits the same process. it's a dynamic that we have seen throughout the day where you have the trump supporters saying, "count the votes." and then you have them saying "stop votes. " what the then you have them saying "stop votes." what the president should stop doing is interjecting himself into this process. there are local officials, state officials, each state in the united states has a secretary of state who is there to certify the votes.

obviously, there is going to be litigation that's coming down the pipe and several of these states, and we are going to have that protracted process play itself out. but for the president to say that there are illegal votes or that there are illegal votes or that there are illegal votes or that there are illegal votes —— illegal votes are illegal votes, that's not a determination he can make. i would make the argument that a ballots ca st would make the argument that a ballots cast whether it's legal or illegal is not a decision for him to make and not something certainly for him to reply on. another missed opportunity for the president to appear presidential in this very, very razor thin contest. yes, ron, to put this in context, we are in a very feeble moment, there was a lot of tension before the election. the country is clearly split down the middle with the president's supporters very, very ardent in their support of him. president trump supporters that i've spoken to during the election campaign down in

places like florida, georgia, they really love this president and they really listen to what he says and they take their cue from him. democrats come out of course, we know that from having spoken to a lot of them really hate this president, the country is that divided. but what damage does this do to the country when the president comes out and says something like, "if you can't illegal votes, i easily win." it sounds like the president is kind of you know, throwing fuel on something that is already burning on the flames of discontent around the country, andi discontent around the country, and i think that is the danger, anything you and i spoke about this after his appearance at the white house on the night of the white house on the night of the election. that is the real danger here that he feeds an impression that this election was fraudulent and stolen and therefore his supporters and many of the people who voted for him won't trust the democratic process with the result that it eventually produces ifjoe biden is declared the winner. the precise reaction that you and i had the other night. "why would

you say something like this was my" it's one thing to be the candidate and out on the campaign trail, it's another thing to be the president of all americans. and to somehow suggest that there are illegitimate votes that have been cast or that the vote has been cast or that the vote has been stolen from him, if you are a fervent ardent trump supporter, you are going to think something was taken away from me or somehow this election was illegitimate, and it could set the stage for former years of rancour in our country. i would also say to you that vice president biden's team came out improvements at the same thing, they've said, we have won this. it's our election. and i think the equal opportunity for danger that we have here is the competing camps are both saying too much of the other side when, as a illegitimate? what we should be saying, which is what we did backin saying, which is what we did back in 2000, governor bush was largely in hiding, vice president gore was largely in hiding, why? because they didn't want to stir up animosity amongst voters who had cast their ballots and

somehow question the legitimacy or lack thereof for that election. so the notion that you have the vice president as well as president trump coming out and saying things are at least a member of vice president biden's senior staff, i think is mistaken and intemperance. they should be quiet, they should be on the sidelines, and they should let all of the active votes that are out there that have not yet been counted, let's count those pallets. run, your right to clarify, because of course, the former vice president himself, joe biden, has actually been more careful in his language in public. he has said, "we think we are winning." or he said, "ivm we are winning." or he said, "i'm not here to declare as of aware." so he has been a little bit more temperate, but his top lawyer has come out and said, i don't think at this stage, we are going to get either of these candidates being quiet. it's a lovely idea that they would just set there and let the votes be counted and wait for there to be a result. you know, i think that is just not going to happen. neitherjoe biden is coming out because he

wa nts to biden is coming out because he wants to project confidence, and he wants himself to be seen, even if he's not saying it, he wants himself to be seen as the president—elect, i think donald trump is coming up to say to his supporters, "this was stolen from you." "i did not lose this, i actually won it if you can't illegal votes." as he has just it if you can't illegal votes." as he hasjust said, of course, that's not actually true, but that's not actually true, but thatis that's not actually true, but that is what he has been saying. what do you think the strategy now is in the white house? what —— as we watch these margins and i'm watching them literally since we've been on air, ron, in pennsylvania and georgia, the margins are coming down. what do you think the trump strategy is going to be over the next 24 hours or so? i think over the next 24 hours, they are going to turn it over to their legal team on the campaign, and you have to trust the lawyers and you have to trust their strategic insights into how best to proceed. i look back at 2000, as he very well know, i was a legal officer for bush cheney

in northern florida. and we took our queue every day, every morning from james baker, the former secretary of state of, "this is how we want to communicate our legal strategy. this is how we want to deploy our lawyers that we have on the ground, and this is how we want to get back to governor bush about how best to proceed." so i would imagine right now, the president's white house counsel is in close consultation with his counterpart on the campaign saying , his counterpart on the campaign saying,"" where do we think that there are irregularities, where it might there be opportunities for us to contest, not only in a state court, but as well as federal district courts and ultimately the supreme court. " district courts and ultimately the supreme court." so the notion here that this is going to be over in a matter of hours ora to be over in a matter of hours or a matter of days, i think there are numerous lawsuits that will be filed. i think there are numerous cases that will be heard beforejudges at the state and federal level, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit that one or more of these challenges from pennsylvania, from some of these other very razor thin margin states wind

their way to the supreme court where at this juncture there is a 6—3 conservative majority. so it will be interesting to see what issues are raised under the constitution and how the justices of the united states supreme court addressed them. 0k, supreme court addressed them. ok, ron christie, thank you very much. anthony's or kur, thank you very much as well for staying with me during this coverage of the white house press co nfe re nce was coverage of the white house press conference was what ramos just saying there, i should pick up on, this is why the biden are hoping that they can win it without the votes that are included in that lawsuit. so let's have a quick listen to what president trump said a few moments ago at the white house. if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. if you count the votes that came in late, we are looking at them very strongly, a lot of votes came in late. i've already decisively one many critical

states including massive victories in florida, iowa, indiana, ohio, to namejust a few. we won these and many other victories despite historic election interference from big media, big money and big tech, as everybody saw, we won by historic numbers, and the pollsters got it knowingly wrong. they got it knowingly wrong. they got it knowingly wrong. they got it knowingly wrong. the poles were so ridiculous and everybody knew it at the time. there was no blue wave that they predicted. 0k, blue wave that they predicted. ok, that was president trump there. our correspondent barbara plett usher is in delaware, joe biden's ho. i don't know if it was the fa ct, i don't know if it was the fact, barbara, that joe i don't know if it was the fact, barbara, thatjoe biden came out and spoke earlier that then prompted donald trump to come out and speak, but the tone tween the two man is very different. yes, that's right. and mr biden has been keeping that tone throughout. it was definitely not a declaration of

victory saying have patients, the process is working, we believe the process has integrity, every vote must be counted, but then saying once all the votes are counted, we are confident that we will win. and they have been keeping a very close eye on these five battleground states that votes are still being counted, convinced that they have a path that will get them to victory in pennsylvania, for example, you have seen the gap between president trump and mr biden narrowing. mr biden gaining on mrtrump and looking narrowing. mr biden gaining on mr trump and looking at georgia as well, nevada, arizona as well, waiting to hear the results from those states hoping that they can make a declaration of victory when they themselves are convinced that they have in fact one. but i don't think there's any illusion here that mr trump himself would concede defeat. i think they're very much wanting to ta ke think they're very much wanting to take the initiative when

they feel confident and try to set the agenda, because i don't think they believe that mr trump would be prepared to follow suit. barbara, would you expectjoe biden to respond to directly to the president when

the president says that the counting of these boats that came in by mail is somehow illegal? he referred to them basically as illegal votes. would we expect the biden team, or would it be mr biden's

lawyers or to have some kind of response to that? welcome i don't know that we would expect them to respond nowjust after mrtrump has them to respond nowjust after mr trump has spoken. they haven't really been approaching it like that. they have been kind of keeping a low profile with a sort of stuff, basically waiting to see how the boat count comes out. but they have beenin count comes out. but they have been in daily press conference giving a general response to mr trump's strategy, and ron was referring to it earlier, one of mr biden's top lawyers said that these cases, these legal cases that the trump campaign had filed were without merit. they were unsubstantiated allegations, and we know that in georgia, and in michigan, thejudges did dismiss in georgia, and in michigan, the judges did dismiss the cases that were some kind of result from nevada? when will we get some kind of results from nevada? this is clark county election centre, and this is absolutely crucial because if you think about nevada, just thing about las vegas, almost three quarters of the population of nevada are from clark county. and what we know so far is that there are around 60,000 votes, and most of them are mailing ballots. they are being counted right now. we believe 50,000 or so are being counted. we will then get an update on that tomorrow at around ten a:m., six p:m., gmc, and at that point we may well have a much better idea of what's happening in nevada, but i have to say

there are trump protesters already there was a protest plan for about an hour's time, and a lot of people are very nervous. i spoke to one trump fan here who said they were actually leaving because they were worried that things would get ugly. there were reports of guns yesterday, state that is very pro—gun, so it is a slightly and today actually, the registrar said that he was worried for the safety of some of the people counting these ballots. so, as you already mentioned, it's a very fearful atmosphere, and you can feel that tension right now, and those trump words will only inflame that. 0k, james, thank you very much for that in las vegas. anthony's is still with me. he's in another studio in our washington, dc bureau. me. he's in another studio in ourwashington, dc bureau. i me. he's in another studio in our washington, dc bureau. i am looking at a tweet that has

come, anthony from matt hill, joe biden's deputy press secretary. so you can say that this comes from the biden team. here is what he tweeted, looking defeated while complaining about polls versus the look of a future president making sure the votes of all americans are counted. biden rapid response team also treated out, "is he doing ok, he doesn't look well. most quote picking up on what you said, anthony, that the president was looking tired, we are all tired, we've been keeping very long hours here in the states. interesting that the states. interesting that the biden team, i think barbara is probably right, don't you? i'm not sure what you're feeling is on this thatjoe biden won't come out and speak. i will be surprised if you responded every time the president decides to speak, but that's interesting that that's what his campaign is picking up on. yes, it is. i think what his campaign is picking up on. yes, it is. ithink they don't want to get engaged in a tit for tat thing with the president because it willjust lead into a spiral down that they don't want to get into. they want to stay presidential.

i think it's interesting to look back on donald trump oz mycommands and say that he was trying to present strength, but if you read tween the lines there, i think there was weakness, and acknowledgement that this race is slipping away from him. he talked about how he had a lead on election night and now it's being chipped away. well, the lead is being chipped away and i think he can see what's happening and he knows that. chances are he is going to lose his —— lose his lead in pennsylvania because a good chance in georgia where it's just down to about a 4000 voter advantage that joe it's just down to about a 4000 voter advantage thatjoe biden could pull ahead there. i went to pick up on what ron said earlier about james baker, and back into thousands, there are reports that the trump campaign was looking for their own james baker, a senior grandy of the party to try to spearhead that legal team. they don't have one. in fact, they don't have one. in fact, they don't have one now that is kind of remarkable, no james baker out there that they can find come in the realjames baker has said that donald trump is knots. so i don't think is going to volunteer for the job.

know. that won't go down very well. anthony's or kur, thank you forjoining me with the special coverage of donald trump oz my press conference at the white house. things very much forjoining us. —— thanks very much forjoining us. hello there. it looks like the weather should even out a bit more, i think, for friday, certainly compared with thursday where we had the win lowing over the pennines, bringing some sunshine in durham, temperatures reaching 18 degrees. whereas across southern parts of england, when that fog formed, it lingered into the afternoon in some places, and temperatures on the 8—9 celsius. only 8—9 celsius. now, it's quite chilly early in the morning across more southern areas of the uk where we have the clearer skies, a pinch of frost. further north, there is more cloud around, but where we have those clearer skies in england and wales, there is some mist and fog, particularly towards the west country in the southeast of wales in the morning. it will lift fairly readily, mind you, as the breeze picks up, and we get sunshine developing widely. that cloud, quite low cloud moving northwards across scotland and northern ireland and some sunshine coming in here as well.

the winds picking up in the southwest through the day. temperatures not quite as high as they were on thursday, notjust to the east of the pennines, but also in the northeast of scotland. but over the weekend, we're going to find milder air gradually coming in from the south on a southerly breeze. whilst it's dry for many, there could be a bit of rain around especially on sunday. but we start the weekend this time with the colder air and the lower temperatures across more northern areas of the uk with the clearest skies. that's going to lead to some fog, particularly across the veil of york and perhaps in the central belt, that could linger into the afternoon as well. otherwise, we get some sunshine in the north away from that fog. further south through wales, the midlands, southern england, it could be quite grey and cloudy through the day. a bit of rain in the far southwestern later. temperatures are beginning to recover across southern areas. where we havr the fog lingering further north, though, it will be quite chilly. second half of the weekend, we've got lowering pressure to the southwest of the uk. southerly breeze, these weather fronts pretty weak, mind you, are moving their way northwards. so it looks like there's

a fair bit of cloud at least on sunday. there could be some patchy rain here and there, most of it, i think, running up through the irish sea towards northern ireland and later on into the southwest of scotland. many places are still going to be dry, and those temperatures making double figures through the central belt of scotland, and again 16 degrees towards the southeast of england. those temperatures remain at those sort of levels, really, i think through monday and tuesday into next week. we've got some wetter weather on monday, but it should be dry but still fairly cloudy i think on tuesday.

this is bbc news, the headlines. donald trump has again complained of electoral fraud in tuesday's presidential poll, as his lead in two key states georgia and pennsylvania, continues to shrink as postal votes are counted. at a news conference at the white house, he repeated unsubstantiated claims of voterfraud. joe biden has insisted the vote counting process is working properly. he's called for calm and patience and said democracy was sometimes messy, but had ‘no doubt‘ he'd be declared the winner once counting was complete. he's seventeen electoral votes short of securing the presidency. votes are still be counted in several key states, including pennsylvania, georgia, nevada and arizona. counting has been delayed largely because of the huge volume of postal ballots most of which are expected to be in favour of mr biden.