is, the reaction in pennsylvania? it is, as you say a historic moment. there has been a lot of movement. hardly anyone in the streets, the national guard isjust anyone in the streets, the national guard is just around the corner here to help the philadelphia police. obviously, they are preparing for a moment like this, there have been demonstrations, the pro—trump camp and anti—trump demonstrators around the corner from here. and anti—trump demonstrators around the cornerfrom here. there has been some movement and the press are just behind me. there is a lot of movement inside as well. they have been continuing to count and they have been doing it meticulously but in the last few minutes, the bbc had said this is a projection. cnn and some of the other america networks have called it. all cbs partners yesterday said they would once the margin between them reached between 20000 and 30,000 votes. it is now closer to 30,000 votes, more votes and the numbers were released earlier, just a few moments ago. i

suppose that put them in a position to call this and mathematically say that once it goes beyond that, that margin that is 0.5%, they would call it. this really is a historic moment and for it to come down really to pennsylvania with its 20 electoral couege pennsylvania with its 20 electoral college votes, the boy from scranton, the young joe biden he was born here in this state, who began his campaign here, who ended his campaign here. he visited pennsylvania 19 times throughout this campaign period. it was an important state for him, he put his headquarters here in philadelphia. it gives you a sense of how important pennsylvania is. pennsylvania is the birthplace of america. it is where the declaration of independence happened in 1776 where the constitutional convention was held in 1787. quite a

significant moment for it to be coming down to pennsylvania and for this state to push the next president over, we are still projecting it, but as cnn said they have called it and they have described him as the 46th president of the united states, making him the old est of the united states, making him the oldest president at 78. he is the one thing —— he was one of the youngest senators in this country. he has got quite a tragic story, it really captured the hearts of so many americans here, when his wife tragically was killed in a car accident and so was his young daughter, he raised his two young boysin daughter, he raised his two young boys in delaware, and now described as the 46th president of the united states by cnn and some other american networks. this really is a moment of history. as you say, so

many firsts in this election, annexed ordinary election, and other bbc projecting that joe annexed ordinary election, and other bbc projecting thatjoe biden has w011 bbc projecting thatjoe biden has won the race to the white house. the group —— the bbc projecting it but as you say, other networks are calling this as well. american networks pa, the press association, also giving the race tojoe biden. we are expecting some kind of reaction from president trump's lawyers, where you are. is there anything they can do at this point to overturn this result? there are an army of lawyers descending here on pennsylvania. they have been here. his lawyers are holding a press c0 nfe re nce here. his lawyers are holding a press conference here in philadelphia to talk about what legal avenues they can take. we have spoken to some lawyers on both sides. some say the president has elected —— has a leg to stand on and

he will pursue the various cases. others are saying that the kind of mailing those they are talking about discounting are just a handful and not enough to really put any kind of change or change anything, change the outcome here. just in the last few minutes, the city officials released more votes and that really putjoe biden in the lead by about 30,000 votes. at that is really where the us networks were waiting before they called it, so it would reach over 30000 and that gap would be so wide that it could not be disputed. but of course donald trump lawyers say they will pursue this, they will take this on, he is not willing to concede, and we'll have to wait and see what his lawyers do here. thank you, reporting on the results on pennsylvania because that is the reason that we are now

calling joe biden president—elect. he has projected to win in pennsylvania which means that multiple news agencies are now giving him the presidency. let's stay in washington and speak to our correspondent gary donohue who is at washington itself. gary, thinking back to earlier this year, whenjoe biden was almost down and out after those two first primaries of iowa and new hampshire, and now it has come to this. it is an extraordinary comeback, in many ways, for the former vice president, the third time he has run for president, don't forget, and here he is at this age making the white house, finally. really fighting off a huge democratic field. many people thought he was too old to do it, many fault —— many people thought he was too old—fashioned, too much of the centre to do it, and heery is

practically with his hands on the keys to the white house. —— and here he is. he is overthe keys to the white house. —— and here he is. he is over the 270 mark. keys to the white house. —— and here he is. he is overthe 270 mark. if the president wins all the remaining states, which looks like he will not do, he still will not have enough. 0f do, he still will not have enough. of course, we have the legal challenge is outstanding, and recounts and standing —— outstanding, perfectly legitimate recounts, but it has become increasingly possible for the president to turn this around. we understand the present is no longer at the white house, we are told he has travelled to one of his golf coui’ses has travelled to one of his golf courses in virginia. he may or may not be on the core is now getting that news. this will be a huge moment for the white house and again a particular huge moment, in terms of how they respond, politically, to this rubicon that has now been crossed. what did i say? do their lawyers tell them they have any chance, in terms of these

challenges? will the other states that start to come in and make the maths pretty possible, even if you have success in one particular legal challenge? have success in one particular legal challenge ? all these have success in one particular legal challenge? all these calculations will be going on now, and the person at some point who has to go to the president, presumably in the last few minutes, and say, excuse me, mr president, you've lost, you wouldn't wa nt president, you've lost, you wouldn't want to be that person. gary, in terms ofjoe biden, no one has ever had a longerjourney to the white house than him. talk us through that journey. well, he has been in politics, really, for almost 50 years, hasn't he? he has been a senator for many years. he then became the vice president, of course. he went through numerous family charger days, losing children. we thought, really, the fight had gone out ofjoe biden, where he didn't put his hand in the ring in the 2016 primary when

hillary clinton got the nomination, he stayed out of that one. speculation mounted over whether he would be part of the 2020 race. the party, of course, had moved in that time, moved significantly to the left. it looked like the party had moved away from a joe biden party, but he prevailed during that primary, that democratic primary, that storming performance on super tuesday when he turned everything around and his opponents reallyjust faded away. and since then, really, he has built a pretty substantial lead in the opinion polls. it has been pretty consistent, actually. people criticise his campaigning strategy, not really getting out there, not doing as many events as president trump was doing, not reaching many of the country, but, look, the strategy appears to have done it in the sense that that blue wall has been rebuilt in the upper

midwest, when we talk about pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, those states that president trump took in 2016 byjust 77,000 votes in total, they have been taken back. and what's more, it looks as though, it looks as though joe biden and what's more, it looks as though, it looks as thouthoe biden has flipped some states that you wouldn't think would be flipped. george f. reg george, very red, deep red georgia, but it has changed over the last few years. the democratic candidate for the government came very close there in 2018. then nature of atlanta and its metropolitan suburbs, a community changing in all sorts of ways. and go west to arizona, again not a democratic city, democratic state since the 1990s, and now flipped. and things going to the president electjoe biden.

and things going to the president elect joe biden. thank you very much indeed. barbara plett asher is in delaware. we can now call him the president elect, barbara, what is the reaction? we arejust president elect, barbara, what is the reaction? we are just getting the reaction? we are just getting the reaction? we are just getting the reaction coming now after the very long wait, four days in wilmington. he is at his house at the moment taken in the news and he will be addressing the nation later today. we know what he will say. he has had it throughout the week. he will talk about being a president for all americans, he will talk about the need for the country to come together, he will talk about the need to face the national crises of the pandemic and the economy, but before then, i'm sure we will get many statements of joy and relief and just excitement. we have already been hearing from one of the campaign officials earlier this morning before the news was announced and they were getting geared up for announcement today for

the very excited and optimistic about it. as we came into the convention centre today, we already saw a handful of peat tilt —— people outside, maybe two dozen, preparing together throughout the day, i think, to cheer mr biden on. i think it is just the beginning think, to cheer mr biden on. i think it isjust the beginning here but we will start to seem a celebration of the day moves on. celebration, barbara, but we are in the middle of a pandemic and this is a person who has been very cautious about sending the right message about social distancing, mask wearing, and at a gathering in large numbers. do we expect this celebration, under the circumstances, to be a bit more subdued, compared to previous victory laps that other presidential candidates have made? well, i think it will probably take the same form we talk on election night. i don't

think it will be subdued, as far as the supporters go, i think people will be elated and they will show it that way. the message we hear from mr biden, yes, the pandemic has been the focus of his campaign all along, he has a plan on how to deal with it, he has talked about listening to the scientists, he has talked about public health guidelines, he has talked about investing in health care, and that will be the first order of his team when he gets to work, and he is going to get to work as soon, i think, as the speech is over. he has his transition team is primed and they will get moving as quickly as possible. so, yes, you will hear some sober words about the state of the country. we have already heard that from him. he will probably hear words of empathy from him, that has been a campaigning point for him, he understands lust, he understands how others feel when they have a loss. —— he understands loss. it is notjust numbers, it is

empty chairs. he makes a point of talk about the tallies of the vote, the tally are notjust numbers, they are people who have exercised their rights so i think we'll hear more about that as well. also, especially from supporters, we will hear about this historic nature this day. this is the third timejoe biden has tried to get the top office, he 77 yea rs old tried to get the top office, he 77 years old and he has finally done it, and he has done it again the odds because as you remember at the beginning of the primaries, he was the old white man in the middle of the old white man in the middle of the most set of diverse candidates the most set of diverse candidates the democrats had ever had. people have come, a lot of women, people from the left of the party, and his campaign was tanking, as you may remember. he didn't pick up one vote in the first to primaries and finally in the third he managed to ta ke finally in the third he managed to take it over the top with the vote of african—americans in south carolina, and he went on from there. ina way, carolina, and he went on from there. in a way, you could say that he has

kind of been the right person for this historic moment, and he has run as himself, as joe, this historic moment, and he has run as himself, asjoe, the guy with experience, affable, empathetic, totally moderate, down the centre but listening to the left wing of his party as the circumstances around the nature of the crises around the nature of the crises around pushed in that direction. and it is the hope of the democrats that he will be the right man to not only defeat donald trump but to move the country in a direction to deal with a crisis that it is facing. barbara plett usher at the headquarters of the president elect biden in delaware, thank you forjoining us. let's just show you that election results after the bbc projected that joe biden is the next, is projected to be the next president. there you have it. mr biden is on 273

electoral college votes, versus 214 for president trump. an extraordinary result there, that we have been waiting for for so long, haven't we, james? it has been five days now. we still have a lot of litigation outstanding, and we can also confirm that present trap has actually gone to his golf course in virginia. ithink actually gone to his golf course in virginia. i think the big question is, can we expect a concession speech from him? it is not mandatory, it doesn't make any legal difference to any of this but it is tradition, and i think it is also notable that fox news, channel that has been favourable to him, has now also projected victory forjoe biden, along with all the other network and various media outlets hit in the us. and just to pick up on that idea of the concession, it has been a tradition in the american politics since 1896, before phones,

where a written note was passed, the first concession note, and since then, it has made life a lot easier for the winning and losing candidates, when the listener picks up candidates, when the listener picks up the phone and says you won or lost, this time it might be different. according to the figures, they have been 36 inaugurations were an outgoing president has handed over to the incoming president. on five occasions, the outgoing president has not taken part in the swearing—in. these pictures coming in now. our correspondent is in philadelphia, we see pictures of biden supporters are celebrating where you are. are people reacting? they have been celebrating for a couple of days, if i am honest. for many people here in this democratic stronghold, it was a done deal. some of them were saying they were just

waiting for the projection to come. it is pretty loud here, people just so it is pretty loud here, people just so excited about that projection that the bbc is making, thatjoe biden will be the next president of the usa, and as we have been hearing there from all our correspondents, it is the horrors —— historic moment. let's not forget who the vice president—elect is, senator kamala harris, she will be the first female vice president, a historic moment if that projection comes through. also, the first black woman of indian heritage as well. not to put a of indian heritage as well. not to puta dampeneron of indian heritage as well. not to put a dampener on things, james, because i think donald trump is not going to concede any time soon, in fa ct, going to concede any time soon, in fact, his legal team are to hold a press conference , fact, his legal team are to hold a press conference, including rudy jeelani. they claim that the reason joe biden has been ahead in election so joe biden has been ahead in election so find is because of voter fraud. there is no evidence of that whatsoever, and i think in many ways, there is anathema to say that

it is not that he has been read like —— leading a pennsylvania, perhaps it was always ahead, sadly that is how lots of supporters think, as you can see here. those pictures are people standing around earlier work trump supporters, they are getting the news, that is why there are no celebrations. joe biden built back the blue wall, and it gave him the election. that is right, and i think that strategy he had of the scrappy kid from scranton, compared to wall street donald really paid off here, especially some of those two counties, people who want to go and have a search to find out a little bit out —— about pennsylvania,. philadelphia is a democratic stronghold and i think a lot of

people here, as i mentioned, it was a done deal, and joe biden was in no doubt, either. he gave more or less a victory speech yesterday, saying that we are going to win this thing. it has been a bit of a wait. elections always are, politically during a pandemic. donald trump isn't really waiting, he has already been tweeting that he has won this election but we can confirm thatjoe biden is set to become the next president of the usa. what do joe biden voters like about him? what got him over the line?|j biden voters like about him? what got him over the line? i think the fa ct got him over the line? i think the fact that he is pretty normal, i would say, and, you know, you do hear people saying things like, you look, we know he is a bit boring, a bit dull, but we want that. after the last four years of predictive validity and chaos and that kind of,

you know, real sort of charge politics, joe biden returns america to something a little bit normal, little bit kind of quiet, where politics isn't always in the forefront, isn't always on peoples minds. they know who he is, he was the vice president for eight years, and so, i think he is such a stark contrast to donald trump and that in itself is what they like about him. i was hearing before, he ran for president twice before, his weakness had always been that he was part of the washington furniture, that he was boring, but now, that weakness has become his strength. just explain to our viewers, we are watching pictures nowfrom black lives matters plaza,, named that by the... i imagine if they have gone

to that plaza now it is to celebrate the... you can see the white house itself, and perhaps fitting that the man who will be living at 1600 pennsylvania ave was born in pennsylvania. it's perfect, really, isn't it? i am sure we will see that if you headlines over the days to come. looking at president trump now, hejoins a come. looking at president trump now, he joins a small club of one term president who didn't manage to get immediate re—election, jimmy carter, herbert hoover, a few others, many of them sidled off the stage. what can we expect from president trump? i mean, i'm going to make a prediction in that i don't think that donald trump will sidle off the stage. he is going hard with

his legal battle against this, he believes this is all fraud, as i mentioned. his legal team is holding a press c0 nfe re nce mentioned. his legal team is holding a press conference at some point today to challenge that result. it will be really difficult to see what his challenge will be. i mean, i think in pennsylvania there was maybe an expectation that there would be a recount but i thinkjoe biden, as i mentioned, he has been so ahead, i think, in this race this whole time that that isn't going to happen. we can expect over the next few weeks, i think, to see more tweets from donald trump calling this election fraud but i think it is pretty clear now with all the projections that donald trump will be relegated to that status of a one term president. i don't know who will tell him that. it won't be you. joe biden himself has been acting as a quasi president. joe biden has

been acting as a quasi president, president in waiting but he now becomes the former —— formal president—elect. he doesn't take power untiljanuary president—elect. he doesn't take power until january the 20th president—elect. he doesn't take power untiljanuary the 20th but... i don't think... that invisible sense of power moves to him immediately. let's join gary o'donoghue in washington. gary, i know you were a few blocks away from the white house, i wonder if you are hearing any horns or any cheers? there was a whole bunch of screeching and screaming and joyous delight from a number of the apartment blocks around where i am and honking of the horns in the street, nothing much beyond that. i can tell you there has been a statement from the trump campaign that says this election is far from over and vows to go to court on monday morning and begin the fight

to overturn some of these results. it says that the president is elected not by the news media but by voters and that many of the votes we re voters and that many of the votes were illegal and in some cases they say cast by people who were dead. so, there is a defiant tone coming out of the campaign, i think, as you would expect. i think that puts paid to expectation, small though it was, that the president might decide to do some kind of concession speech at this point in time. as things stand, they are going to court on monday and they intend to fight. now, the question is you might speak to the president between now and then. we'll close advisers, close family, even, go to him and say it is over, the votes, you don't have them. that may happen, of course, but as things stand, there is no change in the attitude of the trump campaign that this election has been stolen, the votes have been cast illegally in the courts must decide who is the

winner. gary, we have our attention in two places, we are looking at wilmington, delaware, and joe biden preparing to make that victory address, complete with fireworks, the president—elect, the vice president elect will be up on the stage, now we are looking at our screens, scenes of the white house where the current president is there, iam reading where the current president is there, i am reading through this statement as well and i don't see in here any signs of concessions. i've sent texts out to men as of the trump campaign team, i am waiting to hear back from them. do you think he will give a conventional concession speech? i think there is absolutely no sign of concession in that statement whatsoever. there is a promise to go to court on monday morning to begin these legal processes . morning to begin these legal processes. there is a reminder that they will be recount in places like georgia and wisconsin. so, as things stand, and we understand the president is in at the white house

at the moment, he is at his golf clu b at the moment, he is at his golf club in virginia, there is no sign whatsoever of him. the question is, does anyone go to him between now and monday morning when those legal challenges come along and say, mr president, it is over? it is difficult to imagine, outside the family, who might have the inflows to do that. as things stand, absolutely no hint of concession. a doubling down, really, on his claims of voterfraud, of doubling down, really, on his claims of voter fraud, of dead people voting, he is also claiming in this press release as well. votes being cast illegally at —— after the valet has been closed. all these claims being prepared by the lawyers but it comes down to this thing, what goes on inside in the president's head in the next few hours. 0k, gary o'donoghue, thank you very much for joining us from washington. we have a statement now from the

president—elect, joe biden. i am honoured and humbled by the trust the american people are placed in me and then vice president elect harris in the face of unprecedented obstacles, in the face of unprecedented o bsta cles, a in the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of americans voted, proving once again that democracy beats deep in the heart of america. with a campaign over, it is time to put the anger and harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation. it is time for america to unite and to heal. we are the united states of america and there is nothing we can't do if we do it together. that is the statement from president—electjoe biden, and to remind you that the bbc is now projecting thatjoe biden will be the next president of the united states, the 46th president of the united states. this is the third time he has tried. let hearfrom a couple of joe time he has tried. let hearfrom a couple ofjoe biden supporters who gave us their reaction just a few minutes ago. we are so excited. america spoke, we won, we won! every vote counted! we believed in a house

thatjoe biden vote counted! we believed in a house that joe biden was the best for the united states. we have made history. kemal and harris —— kamala harris has made history! i have had a reaction from somebody close to the biden campaign, it is over, we will try again in a few years. people close to the president saying that they realise this is over, james. the bbc correspondent is in philadelphia, it was in the end pennsylvania and indeed votes from philadelphia that nudged joe biden over the threshold to give him 270 electoral college votes. it took all of us by surprise. we were asking my producer do we know? and sadly the networks decided to declare it. fox news as well, everybody now on board with a declaration. were you aware

it would be the 30,000 threshold that put him over and gave him the 270? well, we spoke like this yesterday, didn't we, when you mentioned cbs had said that if it is between 20 and 30,000, we will call it. 20,000 passed, 25,000 parts, we got to 28,000 votes between the two men and still nothing. when i woke up men and still nothing. when i woke up this morning, i thought are they going to call it? is cnn going to call it? is one of the us networks going to do this? then in the last half an hour or going to do this? then in the last halfan hourorso, going to do this? then in the last half an hour or so, we heard that allegheny county had released more numbers and that put him well over 30,000. we now understand that the vote count between the two men is about 34000 and, really, it got to a point where it went beyond the point —— the no .5% mark which, as you know, it means if it is not .5 and below, there can be an automatic

recount requested. i suppose they wa nted recount requested. i suppose they wanted to make sure there was no room, therefore, for any kind of automatic recount that could take place. i was as surprised as you work. we knew this was coming, it wasn't a question of if but when. i suppose, in many ways, all eyes will be on the white house, as you say, you have read out donald trump's statement there, that he is not willing to concede, he has got lawyers here in philadelphia who are talking about the next moves. alongside the concession, i suppose all eyes should also be on capitol hill, how will republicans in congress respond to this? will mitch mcconnell or kevin mccarthy nudge the president, speak to him privately and say, if you don't concede, we will have to go out there and acknowledge this publicly? so all eyes will be on washington because here in pennsylvania, in many ways, it is extraordinary that

the birthplace of america, where the declaration