this is bbc news live from washington and london. joe biden has pulled ahead in the vote in more key battleground states, putting him closer to the white house. the margins are razor—thin, but the trend of the ballot count favours the democrats. mr biden has built up a lead of 13,000 votes over donald trump in the crucial vote count in pennsylvania, a prize that would hand him the white house. the city's mayor says trump must admit defeat. i think what the president needs to do is frankly put his big boy pants on. he needs to acknowledge the fact that he lost, and he needs to congratulate the winter. mr biden‘s lead over the president is also increasing in arizona and nevada. and a recount is announced in georgia, wherejoe biden has overtaken donald trump by 1500 votes.

the final tally in georgia at this point has huge implications for the entire country. i'm laura trevelyan live in washington at the black lives matter protest camp, where there's a mood of celebration already. they are patiently waiting the result of the election inside of the white house. as for the candidates themselves, mr biden is expected to speak to the nation in the next few hours. he's called for calm and patience, saying the process is working properly. each ballot must be counted. we have no doubt that when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. but mrtrump‘s camp haven't given up. they're saying of "false projections" are putting mr biden ahead. donald trump has made accusations of electoral fraud, but offered no evidence. if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes,

they can try to steal the election from us. meanwhile on the streets, mr biden‘s supporters are already celebrating, but mr trump's supporters are still waving flags for their man. hello, and welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. i'm katty kay in washington and kasia madera is in london. joe biden has pushed ahead of donald trump in two crucial states, which could hand him the us presidency. mr biden is now in the lead in pennsylvania, where victory would push him over the threshold required to win the white house. the state is of critical importance to both candidates as it's worth 20 electoral college votes.

joe biden is also ahead in georgia, as well as the counts in arizona and nevada. earlier, georgia announced a recount due to the razor—thin margin there. 0verall, joe biden needsjust 17 more electoral college votes in order to reach the magic number of 270, donald trump needs 56. let's go the latest from our north america editorjon sopel. joe biden takes the lead in pennsylvania... donald trump is now trailing... joe biden is winning the overwhelming share... this mightjust be the moment, the whole ballgame. the seemingly overwhelming lead that donald trump had in pennsylvania the day after the election, this morning finally evaporated and has become a biden lead. if the democratic challenger wins here, it's game overfor the president. pretty soon, the hyphen will be gone from vice—president to president—electjoe biden. it's a happy day for our country.

and the march of the maths has been played out in small government buildings in windowless offices in arizona, pennsylvania, nevada and georgia. a few thousand votes here, a few hundred here — all the time chipping away at donald trump's grip on the white house. there will, though, be a recount in georgia, where margins are tight. four more years, four more years! and outside, protests — some demanding the count to be stopped... the whole world's watching! others that every vote must be counted. from the trump supporters, increasing anxiety. from biden‘s, growing confidence. and in las vegas, nevada, the trump supporters resorting to prayer. "please let our luck change" — not the first time the prayer has been offered in sin city. last night, a disconsolate president made a long, unhappy statement, again alleging without evidence that he was being robbed of a victory that was his.

if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. and we think we will win the election very easily. we think there's going to be a lot of litigation, because we have so much evidence, so much proof, and it's going to end up perhaps at the highest court in the land. we'll see. but we think there'll be a lot of litigation because we can't have an election stolen like this. astonishingly, all the main us networks pulled away before he'd finished. ok, here we are again in the unusual position of not only interrupting the president of the united states, but correcting the president of the united states. and this morning, legal counsel forthe trump campaign issued this statement.

but holed up in the white house, the president isn't enjoying that much support for his legal battle from his party. this is the republican senator from pennsylvania. the president's speech last night was very disturbing to me, because he made very, very serious allegations without any evidence to support it. i am not aware of any significant fraud, any significant wrongdoing. if it's happened, then the evidence needs to come out, we need to go to court. meanwhile, in wilmington, delaware, the stage is set for a declaration — a declaration thatjoe biden has won and that he is now the president—elect. he's marching to the drumbeat of america's long—established democratic traditions, determined to be unaffected by the noise coming from the white house. jon sopel, bbc news, washington.

and the white house has just released this statement on behalf of the president. laura trevelyan‘s outside the white house. what is now called black lives matter plaza. we have seen the demonstrations there in the last few days but at the moment it looks very peaceful. it is peaceful, there is a festive mood i would say. very few supporters of the president but most people who would celebrate what they hopeis people who would celebrate what they hope is the end of his presidency. but you can see the white house behind me. the president is there holed up with his advisers and the statement you just read out has a much more sombre tone than his

tweets on the last few hours about stopping the account and all of the re st of stopping the account and all of the rest of it. so clearly the president is trying to decide what tack to ta ke is trying to decide what tack to take in people here just waiting patiently for those votes to be counted. i was told by somebody senior on the campaign today that there is quite a lot of demoralization amongst campaign staff and now we are hearing from the white house that actually several aides did not show up to work today. it is pretty empty. do you get any more sense of what the mood is like inside the building behind you? so what i am hearing is how did people approach the president? king kong as a sometimes call him inside the white house. he is in an absolute foul mood and the debate amongst his advisers seems to be who is it with the most weight can say it for him the inevitable may be about to happen. the networks may be about to happen. the networks may be about to happen. the networks

may be about to call pennsylvania and how do you handle it at this moment? laura, as always, thank you so moment? laura, as always, thank you so much. let's go live now to atlanta, georgia, where we are getting an update on the counting process there. that's what we stand as of now on 3:08pm on friday. it is friday now. we do know today is the deadline for the military in overseas ballots it would have been postmarked by election day to be accepted and counted in the state. we do have some updated numbers on that. let's see... 0n the overall side, we have 18,008 of those ballots have been accepted and 8410 that are still available to be received. again i wa nt available to be received. again i want to re—emphasize this commitment does not mean there is a bucket of 8410 votes to be counted but that means there are 8410 boats that

could have been postmarked on tuesday and could have been received by officials today. as i said earlier, it will be more than zero and less than 8410. so somewhere in that range and we don't really know how many. i do have a county by cou nty how many. i do have a county by county breakdown of available once andl county breakdown of available once and i can give you some of the highlights to give the details following the press conference in a release. you usually want the big one since we will go with that. bibb, where making is, 86. chatham where savannah is, cherokee county, cobb county to 69, columbia county 247, coweta 99 and dekalb county with 802. i want to take a personal preference for the yankees in the

room, it is dekalb. pronounce these correctly. dougherty county with 74, dallas county with 111, fayette cou nty dallas county with 111, fayette county with 149, forsyth county with 153, fulton county with 956 and that if the single biggest number right there. gwinnett county with 741. henry county with 238. this is another fun one, not houston but houston county with 196. liberty cou nty houston county with 196. liberty county with 173 with a military base there so there is a bit outweighing there so there is a bit outweighing the size of population. lowndes was 141 muscogee with 323, holman county with 25, richmond, rockdale with 80. and i think that is the biggest ones. take those and add together and the balance will be about 4000 for the rest of the counties i did

not name. so after that we have provisionals and i do have the initial provisional report for fulton county which is the largest one and can have the largest impact, the total provisional ballots received is 4869. they accepted 3603 so received is 4869. they accepted 3603 so they rejected 1256 of the provisional ballots i had on hand. the biggest chunks of those were the oi'ies the biggest chunks of those were the ones that were verified and the voter brought their id in and that was 1205 and voted at a precinct so they were inside the correct county and voted inside fulton county but at the wrong precinct, that is 2398. the unfortunate part is they voted out of precinct and essentially they can only vote on the things that we re can only vote on the things that were 011 can only vote on the things that were on the ballot that affected the areas that they shared with the other precincts, so president, senator, those will count but state house and county commission will not. that is the difference. we

don't like seeing voting out of cou nty don't like seeing voting out of county and encourage people to be told to go to their correct polling location. the rejected ballot justifications we saw were out of co., 673. you can only vote provisionally inside your own county. not registered voters, 573. and noncitizens attempting to vote was 13. that is the initial provisional report from fulton cou nty provisional report from fulton county and i said that to change somewhat after talking to the monitor earlier he said other changes are moving on that as well as some of the absentee ballots were damaged so i don't have a final numberof damaged so i don't have a final number of that but some were of 300 that were cut and using the openers and had to re—duplicate and those will be added to tallies today. let's see... not that one. you start to get crazy looking at all the spreadsheets. they are not, as a honest and they have not scanned and uploaded those yet. justin getting ahead and then i can get to this we can come back later. total number of

provisionals in the state, this is not the total number but this is we have the numbers from 134 of the 159 counties and we have a lot of the large ones but not all the large ones. note dekalb county here. i think we might have all the big ones i'iow think we might have all the big ones now but this is a moving target and dealing with elections workers who are doing lots of things at one time and are happy with any of the get this information to the viewer is the voters out there. guess what? we did not hit the some on all of these things yet so that is the exciting tv you came for today. this is the live update from the state of georgia, which is extremely close. this is the secretary of state gabriel sterling and he has the fantastic title of the voting system implementation manager. it is so important that he is going through cou nty important that he is going through county by county because this is absolutely so close to the wire. he

described the margin as fewer than the amount of people in a large high school when he spoke earlier on today. it really puts this into context looking at every single vote. wondering if he grew up thinking he would to be the buildings systems and limitation executive. it is a fun job to go for. it is super close in georgia and there are these outstanding male in balance some of which come from abroad. we heard an analyst on the programme in the last hour saying there has been speculation that a lot of those ballots mailed in from abroad absentee they have coming from overseas might be military and will definitely be so military in there but also he says there will be civilians who melt in ballots from abroad as well and in past elections, proportion of civilians to military tends to be greater for the civilians in the military. so it is not a foregone conclusion. there will be a lot of civilians voting for donald trump and people in the

military who vote forjoe biden so i'm not sure we can determine too much of that. people will listen to all of those numbers out of georgia and all those tiny counties in the pronunciation of the names of those counties and will make everybody‘s had to spend in your eyes will glaze over and we will at some point get a result from georgia. there will be a recount in georgia and at some point we will get a result. everyone has to delve deeply into the counties and my advice you are viewers is to be patient and wait until we have the states result. getting familiar with the map of the us. finally learning every single stay and some of those counties as well. but you are right, we are here to have a look at the bigger picture and another key state of course with a lot of ice on it philadelphia. earlier, philadelphia city officials have given a statement about the ongoing election operations. and the city mayor has a message for the president donald trump. uh, you know, ithink what the president needs to do is, frankly, put his big boy pants on. he needs to acknowledge

the fact that he lost, and he needs to congratulate the winner, just as jimmy carter did, just as george h w bush did, and frankly, just as al gore did and stop this and let us move forward as a country. that's my feeling. i'll doubt he'll listen to me, but that's it. not mincing his words there. the bbc‘s yalda hakim joins us from philadelphia, pennsylvania. we heard those words a bit earlier on and ultimately will be are saying is you need patients. very much so. that was the message that they kept reiterating and it was not quite a moment they are from the mayor of philadelphia when he said that donald trump needed to put his big boy pants on. the press conference they are just had a moment and had to sort of chuckle and think about the fact that we are talking about the fact that we are talking about the president of the us and this has beena the president of the us and this has been a nail—biting day. there has been a nail—biting day. there has been no shortage of surprises during

this election and in this campaign but there has been one thing that the campaigners and the pundits have managed to get right and that was the importance of pennsylvania and it certainly has become the focal point in these final days after the election. let's speak now to bob who isa election. let's speak now to bob who is a congressman election. let's speak now to bob who is a congressman for the democratic party. thank you so much forjoining us party. thank you so much forjoining us here on the programme. your reaction to the way that the day has panned out here because we started off with donald trump ahead by about 18,000 votes and now coming up to the end of the day we are seeing joe biden ahead by about 13,000 votes. within to be having a few problems with your guest there so i will take the opportunity to put you on the spot and ask you a few more questions because pennsylvania is so important. those crucial 20 electoral college votes that would bring the keys to the white house to joe biden. very much so. as you say

it is critical. such a big state or the commonwealth as it is called. it has 20 electoral college votes and this is really where joe biden began his campaign for stuff he came here 19 times and he ended his campaign here. it is also his birthplace. he was born in scranton and really made a point of that when he went and spoke to some of the workers there. he said that he understands what it is like to live in this state, to be a son is like to live in this state, to be a son of this day and he really beat that up throughout this campaign. but don't forget this is also a state or commonwealth that donald trump one by about 44,000 votes in 2016. he beat hillary clinton. so donald trump has a huge amount of appeal here as well and really both men have managed to bring out voters in unprecedented numbers. 0ver men have managed to bring out voters in unprecedented numbers. over 6.5 million people and that is a huge number here in pennsylvania. let's just try this guest again, the

congressman bob brady. i believe you are there now. thank you very much for joining are there now. thank you very much forjoining us. first of all, your reaction to the way that the day has panned out here in pennsylvania. we are very happy about that. of course we are winning and you were always happy when you are winning and we are going to win. 0ur numbers are increasing in the moment, every time a county, philadelphia county or allegheny co. , two a county, philadelphia county or allegheny co., two large counties him that we get 80 or 90% of those injoe biden's him that we get 80 or 90% of those in joe biden's favour so we are usually happy with how the day has gone. joe biden is do to make a statement in prime time later this afternoon from delaware. do you think he is likely to say anything along the lines of saying that he has won this election?” along the lines of saying that he has won this election? i note joe biden. joe biden is a very class individual. he is not going to gloat. he will find the people for the hard work they did on election

day. he will look forward to the results and he will abide by the results and he will abide by the results one way or the other and if a come out to make in the winter, he will accept but i do not think until the votes will be in and i think he will think the people and will say as he said over and over again, note red states in america, no blue states in america. only the united states of america and he is going to saint i'm sure that he is thank you people who voted for him and the people who voted for him and the people who voted for him and the people who did not vote for him, he will still be there president. we have plenty of time after all this is over to scrutinise the pollsters and some of the polls that came out really putting joe biden ahead. i wasjust in wisconsin really putting joe biden ahead. i was just in wisconsin and at 1.1 pole so that wisconsin would go in his favour by 17 percentage points. it has not been a landslide forjoe biden, has a? it has been a very slow process and of the votes have been quite tight in a lot of places.

it was a tight race in a lot of places and the only polls were taken la st places and the only polls were taken last tuesday. i never believe in polls. if you are behind, you run ha rd polls. if you are behind, you run hard andl polls. if you are behind, you run hard and i have run many times, if you are ahead you cannot be complacent and still have to run hard. and the biden campaign did not read any pulsing they ran as hard as they could and the only poll that cou nty they could and the only poll that county was last tuesday and those polls will show i believe that joe biden is going be the next president. congressman brady, with or leave it there. thank you very much forjoining us. and there is a lot happening here in philadelphia it, including some demonstrations around the corner from here. donald trump supporters saying that they wa nt trump supporters saying that they want the counting to stop as well as anti—donald trump protesters or as i should say partygoers who are now becoming increasingly confident that they have got this and they have been dancing and partying in the streetsjust behind been dancing and partying in the streets just behind me been dancing and partying in the streetsjust behind me as the

counting continues at the convention centre. thank you very much. we're also watching arizona. it's a state that offers 11 electoral college votes and has long been won by the republicans. butjoe biden is currently ahead there by over 43,000 votes, and trump supporters aren't happy. some of them are protesting in the state capital. 0ur west coast correspondent sophie long is in phoenix, arizona. 43,000 votes is like a healthy when you look at the razor thin margins of places like georgia but is it possible for them to catch up with that 43,000 with him any more outstanding votes are to be counted? it is very loud here so i think i caught your question but yes, over 43,000 votes between them. it does sound more healthy than in other states of courts but that is only the equivalent to 1.4%. in terms whether the president can still catch up people hear it certainly believe he can and they have been

protesting here in downtown phoenix since early in the morning. the crowd has dissipated a lot and i would say at its peak this morning there were around 600 people and it has been a very noisy protest. but a nonviolent one. there are a number of people carrying guns and some of them quite heavily armed. they are here in downtown phoenix because this is where the votes are being counted. if i can turn around and show you the counting centre there can because of the fence has not been put in place. that has not been there until today. they have been protesting here since the polls close really and certainly since wednesday. and they have been always peaceful and there has been a lot of kneeling down and praying and asking god to watch over their votes. but what they are saying is they want every vote to be counted. in terms of they want every legal vote to be counted and here in arizona there is i'io counted and here in arizona there is no postmarked loss of all votes have to be received before polls close at 7pm local time on tuesday. it is now the third day of county and the

margin has been narrowing. and as that got more and more narrow, the protests have grown both in size and in volume. you say some people have got guns there but i am looking at the crowd behind you and it looks pretty peaceful, frankly. it has been very peaceful. there has not been very peaceful. there has not been any sign of trouble at all but when i asked a very heavily armed men while they had brought guns to a peaceful protest, they said it is their second limit right and this of course an open carry state and that is what they wanted to do. women have told me they feel much safer having armed men around and they say it stops them from being terrorised from the far left. there has been no counter protest here. one man walked to the crowd earlier with a joe biden, harris banner if you will hearjust that give him a hug. well, there you go, there is hope for reconciliation in the country. so pete from phoenix, thank you very much and we could all the more socially distance hugs if that is a possible thing at the moment and

more of all of those results are being counted as we speak of course. in this very tight election campaign. goodbye to our pbs viewers in america. james clayton is in nevada. another state critical in this account. james, we keep bouncing around the country about which could be the state that becomes more critical. as the counting in pennsylvania seems to have been put on hold for a little bit and there are the networks taking their time because they want to be super, super cautious about pennsylvania, all eyes turning now to nevada and wondering when nevada with its six electoral college votes might be called. are you hearing anything? we got another this morning and about 30,000 votes, additional votes have been counted. joe biden extended his lead and what i would say is the counting here is incredibly slow. you will get another update in a few

hours' time but i think it is very unlikely we are going to get any kind of result here because it is so close. 20,000 votes separate biden and donald trump. by the way, the registrar said he rather be right than fast. so he actually said we might not even know a result tomorrow and might not even know a result until sunday. technically if you voted on the third by posting it reaches this voting centre in seven days, it will still be counted so it is more than possible that we won't know well into next week if it is close who has won this state. that is an even longer grace period if you like than pennsylvania has. looking at the latest numbers, how many more outstanding votes are there still to be counted? there are about 120,000 there still to be counted? there are about 120 , 000 outstanding votes. they are split about half mail—in are going to biden and half are

provisional where you might come in and show your id because there is a line here to show their id to prove who they were. there was some kind of issue with verification of their ballot and the split is roughly 50-50. in ballot and the split is roughly 50—50. ina ballot and the split is roughly 50—50. in a pod of independent is very well respected and have called it thatjoe very well respected and have called it that joe biden very well respected and have called it thatjoe biden is going to win nevada. we are not doing that and we think it is too close to call and donald trump is still when here but this is a crucial state. if pennsylvania did go donald trump off mcquay and georgia did, joe biden still has a road to winning the presidency if he wins and nevada. there was still put them ahead with the six electoral college votes and the six electoral college votes and the 11 out of arizona. i'm looking at the line and they do not not protest behind you. have you seen any protests in nevada and the reason i'm asking is we saw some in arizona and his with her trunk campaign is still hoping they can pull ahead? i wonder if the protesters are more significant in areas where the supporters feel they

have a stronger chance. anything we can read into the fact that there did not seem to be protest going on there in nevada? the process here is organised at 6pm every day. the protesters will start filtering in a couple of hours' time and by about 6pm there are hundreds and hundreds of donald trump supporters. saying all kinds of things. i have to say from what i've seen that have been very peaceful. echoing what so feet long said. people have been carrying guns here and this is an open carry state but at the moment, i would not say that it is particularly dangerous here but having said that the registrar said he was concerned about the safety of some of the ballot counters. we did see one person earlier being escorted in by armed police. so it is a weird one. it does not feel dangerous but it does feel tense in a way. thank you there, james, nevada and i had not realised they turned up at 6pm the protesters. good to hear in both

nevada and arizona that those protests, which is everybody‘s right under the constitution commitment people so far because there had been a fear people so far because there had been afearon people so far because there had been a fear on election day that there could be some violence in the country. we have not really seen that so far and everybody seems to be respecting the process and exercising as much patience as i can and perhaps we have all learned patients during the course of this pandemic year and are better than we thought we were. but anyway a lot of patients being displayed around the country. in the past hour, we have heard from nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house of representatives. take a listen. i wish we weren't wearing masks so could can see how exciting it is to come before you today withjoe biden having the tremendous mandate that he has. pretty soon, the hyphen will be gone from vice president to president—elect — joe biden. it's a happy day for our country because joe biden is a unifier, because he is determined to bring people together, because he respects all points of view.

and as he has said, "i ran as a democrats "and i will govern as president for all of the people whether "they voted for me or not." so i am so over officially pleased with the outcome that is imminent and also personally delighted because of the quality and calibre of leadership that joe biden will provide. this morning, it's clear that the biden—harris ticket will win the white house. and republican senator for south carolina — lindsey graham — has reacted to his party's legal challenges. he says he believes there are voting irregularities — although he provided no evidence — and said donald trump deserves a chance to have his case heard. the president should fight hard because what i believe

is that when stacy abrams challenged the georgia results, the liberal media in this country praised her for standing up for democracy, but when a republican challenges a contest, we're accused of undercutting democracy, and here is my statement: democracy depends upon fair elections, president trump's team is going to have a chance to make a case regarding voting irregularities. they deserve a chance to make that case, and i will stand with president trump. if democrat was doing this, they'd be cheered on, we are not going to let the media intimidate us into exploring whether or not these contests were fairly had. that is entirely true. you do have the chance to demand a recount in a very close race.

as the counting of votes in the us election went into its third day, it was a moment of drama when joe biden overtook donald trump in pennsylvania, a crucial state in this contest. clive myrie has been reporting on the battle for the white house over the past two weeks, travelling through some of the key states that are deciding who wins the presidency. he reports tonight from pennsylvania and looks at what this election has done to america. birdsong. it's morning again in america. past presidential elections here heralded a sense of hope, a peaceful dawn. but this is now america. chanting: count every vote, count every vote! a land of ambient ugliness. divided, angry, frustrated. primed for trouble.

there are many whose opinion we've canvassed in this disunited states of america in recent weeks. ordinary voters. i looked to track my ballot, and it wasn't there. now wondering, can the nation meet this moment to heal? you can'tjust find hundreds of thousands of votes. bridge the chasm between red and blue? we first came across catherine and herfriend pam stumping for trump in phoenix in arizona just before polling day. they endure the heat... we love trump! ..and very public disapproval. i'm sorry for you! if we lose the election, we're going to lose our way of life.

we won't be free. we came across chris smith at a trump rally in tucson last month. and after touching down in philadelphia on election eve, we chatted with debbie smith, a democrat who voted forjoe biden. as the election draws to a close, she says america cannot tackle its most pressing problems without unity. our people need to get back to work, we need to heal this country. so at the end of the day, it's going to come down to we need to recover from the coronavirus. people have lost sight of what's happening. for some republicans, the coronavirus isn't the main election issue. ask chris smith. you think it's fraud? i mean, guys, we don't go to bed at ten, 11, 12 o'clock at night, two in the morning leading all the key swing states and wake up at seven o'clock in the morning and suddenly they've found hundreds of thousands of votes and they all happen to be forjoe

biden. hello, catherine, greetings from philadelphia, it's good to see you again. the last word goes to catherine. do you think the two halves of america can unite now? perhaps in the future we can start to work on it, but right now, no. the wound is too open. sobering words, but if it's winter in america, can spring be far behind? clive myrie, bbc news, in philadelphia. some really poignant reporting from our colleague, clive myrie, there. withjoe biden so close to that 270 mark, all eyes remain on donald trump, who isn't giving the impression that he will concede and allow for a smooth transition of power should he lose. let's take a look back at three important concession speeches from recent history. first, george hw bush was the last incumbent to be

defeated when he lost to bill clinton in 1992. his speech specfically mentioned that transition. we respect the majesty of the democratic system. ijust called governor clinton over in little rock and offered my congratulations. he did run a strong campaign. i wish him well in the white house, and i want the country to know that our entire administration will work closely with his team to ensure the smooth transition of power. there is important work to be done, and america must always come first. so we will get behind this new president and wish him well. in 2008, senatorjohn mccain lost to barack 0bama. mccain stopped his crowd booing the new president—elect and offered his support going forward. i had the honour of calling senator ba rack obama

to congratulate him... booing. please... to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love. booing. senator obama and i have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. no doubt, many of those differences remain. these are difficult times for our country. and i pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face. if you get the chance, do listen to that extended, because later on, john mccain wins the crowd, and they are cheering with him. it's an incredibly emotive speech. and even most recently, in 2016 after losing to donald trump, hillary clinton told supporters they should "cherish" the peaceful transition of power. i still believe in america, and i always will. and if you do, then we must accept

this result and then look to the future. donald trump is going to be our president. we owe him an open mind and the chance to lead. our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power, and we don'tjust respect out, we cherish it. transfer ——of power, and we don'tjust respect that, we cherish it. so interesting to listen to. i was there down in arizona whenjohn mccain made that concession speech and even at the time, everybody was hailing it as one of the best speeches thatjohn mccain had ever given. hillary clinton there, i was in new york that night when she conceded, again, clearly no love lost between donald trump and hillary clinton, but you there she is saying that he is the president of the united states and that's the way democracy works, and we have to pull together for the country. i way democracy works, and we have to pull togetherfor the country. i had

one former trump adviser say to me this morning that he felt the president should concede if and when donald trump does concede, it's going to be very interesting to hear what your ads to words he uses, not just because in the sweep of history, it would be an anomaly not to concede in a graciously and pull together for the country, because his supporters who are clearly in their millions and who clearly listen to what he says and follow what he says, they will be listening to hear what the president says if and when he gets to the point that he loses this election, which is not clear yet, and if and when he does give a concession speech, where he to lose commit would be interesting to lose commit would be interesting to hear what he says. you can absolutely count on the fact that we will be poring over every single word, even like last night, we heard the president speaking, giving that speech that you were listening to, i was listening to, and every single word was poured over, fact checkers going through everything. i can keep up to him actually, i've got to say. at every single word will be poured over. there is a debate about whether

those speeches should be run when they are so full of things that need fa ct they are so full of things that need fact checking. the american networks, abc news, cbs news, which is our partner station here in america, nbc news, they all pulled out of the president's speech early because their argument is that they don't want to be broadcasting things that are not true. we have bbc believes that's a form of editorializing, that we should run the president's speeches, he is still the president of united states, but we were very clear that as soon states, but we were very clear that as soon as states, but we were very clear that as soon as the president had spoken, anthony's and i were on air and we went through the speech piece piece saying where there were things that we re saying where there were things that were not true, friendly, that the president has set, and i think that's the way you have to characterize it. make sure that we hold the president to account when he does say things that are not true. and you did sterling work, because there was an awful lot to get there. focusing on georgia now. there's going to be a recount in georgia. 0ur correspondent, larry madowo, is in atlanta. larry, when it is such a razor thin

margin leading forjoe biden, of course, a recount is absolutely crucial. every single vote matters. absolutely. right now, that margin isjust 1585. absolutely. right now, that margin isjust1585. that's absolutely. right now, that margin is just 1585. that's what the local officials who are running elections here in georgia have just been telling us. the other question that they are asking, because everybody is asking, is when will this recount happened? when will we know the final outcome of the presidential election? they said listen, there's a process here. we have to verify every vote. we have to certify the election, and then that recount can happen. the timeline that was in place before this event was november 20th two certify the election, and then after that, the recount could happen. he says there's no way to move it forward just because of this huge national interest in it. he doesn't know how much contestation is going to be, whether the one local official essentially said there might be a lawsuit from their biden campaign, there might be a lawsuit from the trump campaign, and we want to make sure that we are

prepared for it. so we can make it any faster. so they are sort of pivoting to sing, "listen, tomorrow, a big georgia game, let's focus on things that medicament things that matter right now is the game tomorrow. " matter right now is the game tomorrow." yarmulke my goodness, that's extraordinary, given that possibly we won't know until the end of november so they are really you know, they are occupying our time with with games? well, this is the south, a good foot ball well, this is the south, a good football game is something to take people's mines away on what's happening. and realising how important it is, but also, again, and we can't make this thing happen any faster, and today they tweeted where are the military ballots in georgia? we know where those military ballots are. about 8410 we re military ballots are. about 8410 were requested and have not been returned. they have a few more hours to return them. as another 4000 or so to return them. as another 4000 or so bouts to be counted, but that's pretty much it. when that's done, it still might take some time before it's all done. larry, i agree, for bargains are very important, especially on a

weekend when everybody needs a break. can i quickly asked about that senate race, two very important senate races taking place in georgia, ifjoe biden becomes president, control of the senate will become a critical issue commit will become a critical issue commit will massively affect his presidency whether he can be a successful president or not. one of the senate races president or not. one of the senate ra ces loo ks president or not. one of the senate races looks like it's going to go, both of the senate races potentially going to go for a runoff. are we getting any recounts, because some are very close. what is the status there of those two now incredibly important senate races? it does look like both senate races in georgia will go into a runoff on the 5th of january. under the law in georgia, if none of the candidates get more than 50% of the vote, then it goes into an automatic runoff. that certainly happening in the kelly loeffler warnock race because neither of them had more than 50% of the vote. the other case, david purdue againstjohn the vote. the other case, david purdue against john awsat, the democrats, that also very much likely going to run off territory,

and this is a big if, if the democrats pick up both of these seats, then they are looking good and it will be a big win to flip the senate and also to win the presidency here. this is kind of geeky, but it does matter in american politics, that purdue also operates, do we know if there's going to be recount and that's? 0f talking about a recount because it's super—tight. talking about a recount because it's super-tight. yes, it's absolutely tight. purdue has been around about 50% which is sometimes oscillating to below 50 and then just at around 50, so it looks like it's more in ru noff 50, so it looks like it's more in runoff territory than recount at this stage. 0k. larry down in atla nta, this stage. 0k. larry down in atlanta, thank you very much. laura trevelyan's outside the white house. laura, which states are they watching most closely? where are the most hopeful at the moment in the trump campaign? they are hoping that

possibly arizona is the one place where the president has gained some votes, but the math means he needs to be winning slightly more of the votes that are coming and then he should. they are pleased because maricopa county, that's key county, isn't a complete biden blitz, but nonetheless, they acknowledge that pennsylvania has called forjoe biden, and it seems out of reach for them. that's very problematic. georgia has gone to a recount, which at least is something, because of georgia had definitely been called for biden, than it would've been very ha rd for biden, than it would've been very hard to see them power forward. but it's a moment of immense nervousness, and people who are close to the presidents, the question is how do they manage him? he is so famously volatile, and he is determined to fight this in the courts. these appointed someone one

of his advisers to lead this legal battle, but he's hardly the james baker type figure that jared kushner, president's son—in—law, was hoping for. he doesn't quite have the same gravitas, and of course with the white house is watching is which wait to republicans fall if and when it's called forjoe biden? that will be the key question. yes, we have seen the president's sons yesterday come out quite vociferously, i think that's the right word, against republicans for not standing up for the president in public enough. how are republicans breaking today? where those words from the president's sons, what kind of impacted they have on republicans around the country? welcome they deftly had an impact, because of course donald trump has got 5 million more votes than he got in 2016. that's what his sons were

saying on twitter. though straightaway after that, senator lindsey graham in south carolina golfing partner and pal of the president giving $500,000 to the legal campaign to fight all of this, we also had him saying that what's going on in philadelphia is dodgy and it's crooked. senator ted cruz in texas has done something similar, kevin mccarthy, the house minority leader, he has also said republicans will not be silenced. so, there is a bit of a rhetorical shift, but equally, you have the elder statesman like mitt romney, the only senator to vote to impeach the president. remember, eons ago, back injanuary, he president. remember, eons ago, back in january, he said president. remember, eons ago, back injanuary, he said the president's are wrong and dangerous when he is saying that there is electoral fraud and that the other side is trying to steal the election. so i think the key moment will be if and when there isa key moment will be if and when there is a call and it becomes real. at the moment, it still hypothetical, then we will see where the republican chips fall. laura, give us republican chips fall. laura, give

usa republican chips fall. laura, give us a little bit more on what you understand the mood is inside the white house at the moment? we are told by our partners at cbs news that not so many people have shown up that not so many people have shown up for work today. the president is famously volatile, he is furious that his tweets are being censored, as he sees it's, and the debate inside the white house seems to be about when does he next appear in public? he doesn't wantjoe biden to steal the limelight. we know that they are building a dais there in wilmington delaware forjoe biden to come out and speak from, and he feels that the —— when he feels the presidency has been called for him. so it's hard for the president, he has had the stage for four years, he's had control. and now there is a sense that it's shifting. 0k, laura, thank you very much, laura outside the white house where there is good news, isn't it, caccia? all of these

peaceful protests around america at the moment. yes, we heard from sophie, james as well come about people getting on with it, enjoying themselves, but of a party atmosphere outside the white house. nice to see. so which states have yet to declare and what potential routes remain for each candidate to win? my colleague reeta chakrabarti is in london and has the numbers: i hope that board is behaving itself, i was out there earlier, i hope i didn't break it. i'm sure it's absolutely fine. this is the state of the electoral map at the moment commando states that are still in grey are the ones where we have still got to have results. very close contests and some of these states. georgia, as we now commit so close, there will be a recount. it's close in arizona as well. the place that we've all been looking at today particularly as pennsylvania. the reason being it's 20 electoral college votes which could prove very decisive indeed. as

you can see, barely anything between the two candidates, but the story of the two candidates, but the story of the day has beenjoe biden easing up towards president trump and then taking a lead in this state. the democrats do feel confident of taking pennsylvania. now, let me just show you what would happen if you did. i'm going to use the blue pen here, and let's assume that he doesin pen here, and let's assume that he does in fact succeed in flipping pennsylvania. there you go, joe biden goes over the 270 mark, he's at 273. so if he gets pennsylvania, he then becomes the next president of the united states. what's interesting is, if he doesn't get pennsylvania, so if i take it away from him, he has another route. nevada, which was won by hillary clinton last time around, if he succeeds in retaining nevada and if he does succeed in flipping arizona, where there's a close contest of the moments from about takes them to 270

and he has one. conversely, president trump has to win all of this states that are still grey in order to stay in the white house. that's a very tall order. so much more difficult path for donald trump. iwant more difficult path for donald trump. i want to show you one more screen, trump. i want to show you one more screen, one more set trump. i want to show you one more screen, one more set of figures which are really interesting. the national popular vote, and this is important not because it decides the presidential contest, but it shows you the level of support that each candidate has. the figures are enormous, joe biden on 74 million. now, hillary clinton last time got 62 and a half million, so he is way ahead of her, but donald trump two has greatly exceeded his own performance last time around. last time around, there were 61,200,000 voters. well, this time, he has exceeded that by about 8 million. so there will be a lot of people who have been saying if donald trump does lose this election, it will somehow be a repudiation of the term

project. welcome on these figures, it doesn't look really as if it is. really interesting, and a huge historic turnout. read outcome as always, thank you so much. so she touched upon their if the presidents, if he does manage to keep nevada, and also if he flips arizona, he will get to the white house. let's have a little look at is arizona, because it is to be projected, estate that offers 11 extra college votes and has long been won by republicans. butjoe biden is currently ahead there by over 43,000 votes. and trump supporters aren't happy. some of them are protesting in the state capital — from where our west coast correspondent, sophie long, reports. well, this protest in downton phoenix has only been under way for a matter of minutes, but there are already 500 or maybe 600 people here. it is a noisy protest but, at the moment, non—violent. just to let you know where we are, we're at the election centre in downtown phoenix. that building just behind

us is where the votes are still being counted. now, the latest figures we have is that there are still more than 150,000 votes to be counted in maricopa county alone. now, that really is the population centre of arizona. it includes phoenix and all its surrounding suburbs. if you take maricopa county, then you really take arizona. now, the protests have increased in numbers and volume and energy over the past few days, as the gap between the two candidates narrows. now, the latest figures we have is that there is just a 1.4 percentage point between them. we've had speeches from members of the alt—right. they are chanting, "count the vote," "stop the steal," and they are calling for a full audit and recount of votes, notjust here in arizona but across the country. sophie long there in phoenix for us. sophie long there in phoenix for us. so looking at the end of this hour for key states. arizona, nevada, georgia and pennsylvania come at the

moment, joe biden is ahead in all of those. some margins are bigger than in others, in some recounts are taking place. and none of those states are we in a position yet to be able to call that state forjoe biden or donald or by the re, we have to be patient, as more votes are counted. i can't tell you how labourious a process that is, you have to take the ballot out of the envelope, sometimes there's a second envelope, sometimes there's a second envelope as well in the case of pennsylvania, you flatten it outcome you scan it, and then you check the signature against the signature of the voter in the registry come and make sure that those signatures match. each ballot can never be left alone with one person, you've got to have two people, living in a world of social distancing, that has caused some stress in the system, especially in pennsylvania. it takes a long time. those pull workers are doing the lords work of democracy at the moment as they go through that. sometimes they've got protests going on outside the building. they're working as hard and as well as they can, but everybody is saying we want to get this right. it's more

important to get it right, even if that means delaying the result and the announcement of getting it wrong and having to retracted. bear with us. we are all having to exercise patience at the moment.

this is bbc news live from washington and london. joe biden inches closer to the white house, pulling ahead in more key battleground states. the margins are razor—thin, but the trend of the ballot count favours the democrats. joe biden has built up a lead of 13,000 votes over donald trump in the crucial vote count in pennsylvania, a prize that would hand him the white house. the city's mayor says trump must admit defeat. i think what the president needs to do is frankly put his big boy pants on. he needs to acknowledge the fact that he lost, and he needs to congratulate the winner. mr biden's lead over the president is also increasing in arizona and nevada. and a recount is announced in georgia, wherejoe biden has