we're back here in the cnn election center awaiting results that could potentially be decisive in the cliff hanger presidential race. i'm wolf blitzer. former vice president joe biden is now very, very close. there is a contest with president trump under way in pennsylvania and biden could overtake him at any moment when we get new results. we're watching the vote counting in philadelphia as we wait for those new totals to be revealed. a win in pennsylvania would be enough, certainly enough to make

biden president elect of the united states. he also has momentum from his new lead in georgia, inching ahead of the president. we're standing by for new votes from that state as well. right now, look at this, biden has 253 electoral votes, on the brink of the 270 he needs to win. that number could soon go up. while president trump's options for adding to his current count of 213 are running out. let's get a key race alert right now. let's start off in pennsylvania where 95% of the estimated vote is now in. plenty of votes outstanding. 20 electoral votes in pennsylvania. trump still has a lead of 18,049. 49.5% to 49.2%, but that lead could collapse fairly soon. in georgia right now biden has taken the lead, it's a small lead, but he is ahead by 1,096 votes, 49.4% to 49.4%, 99% of the estimated vote in georgia is

in. in arizona 90% of the estimated vote is in, biden maintains his lead of about 47,000 votes, 51.1% to 48.5%. and in nevada 89% of the estimated vote is in, biden there also continues to maintain a lead of about 11,400 votes, 49.4% to 48.5%. let's go over to pamela brown at the cnn voting desk. you're looking, pamela, closely at where the outstanding votes remain. >> that's right. we are expecting results, wolf, this morning. that could help joe biden clinch this election. let's look at what we have. in pennsylvania in the commonwealth of pennsylvania, look at this, 163,000 mail-in ballots left. in any moment now we are expecting philadelphia could report the latest results, they had workers overnight, there was a shift change, but we are expecting results soon. right now in philadelphia they have 50,000 outstanding ballots, the update is expected, again, any moment now. then you look at georgia, 10,000

ballots left to count, we saw joe biden take the lead in georgia overnight. and then in arizona, maricopa county, populous county there in arizona, democratic stronghold, 204,000 early ballots left there in maricopa. the next update there should be coming at 11:00 a.m. in nevada, clark county, 51,000 ballots left in clark county, the home of las vegas, populous county there in nevada, democratic stronghold, next update there at 1:00 p.m. we are wcatching this closely. >> we will get back to you. john king, we are looking at this contest, you take a look at the popular vote nationwide, 91% of the vote is in and biden is beating trump by more than 4 million votes. >> and that likely to grow, we are remember, we are counting votes on the west coast, counting votes coast to coast, but votes in california, they are at 77% of the count there, joe biden getting more than 8 million votes in california. so that one is going to grow and that will be part of the legacy

of this election, the first challenge, though, get one candidate to 270 electoral votes and that's why the hours and perhaps even the minutes ahead could be decisive. pam just laid it out, you see pennsylvania is still red on our map, but georgia is blue. if you left us after midnight last night that's the biggest change right there, georgia has changed to blue, president trump was leading, joe biden leads it now, donald trump cannot win reelection, cannot get to 270 unless he wins both of these states which is why the wait on pennsylvania is so critical. so let's start there. let me turn this up and bring this out. you watch this here, at one point tuesday night into wednesday the president's lead was some 600,000 votes plus in pennsylvania. it is now 18,049. as pam noted, about 150,000 votes still outstanding and we believe about 50,000 of them come right from here, sorry, excuse me, touch there, in philadelphia, the largest city in pennsylvania, a democratic stronghold, you see joe biden getting 81% of the vote. as they count these mail-in

ballots throughout the day yesterday his percentage is even higher. democrats voted mostly by mail, republicans turned out on election day. 50,000 plus votes to go you see the lead of 18,000 right there, simple math tells you joe biden can overcome that lead just in philadelphia but there are more votes out there. suburban collar around philadelphia, this is where democrats build their lead, you see all that red, smaller rural counties, the president is very strong. the president has a higher vote total in pennsylvania right now than he did four years ago when he flipped this state, but democrats are voting, too, and they're still counting the ballots and joe biden is within striking distance. we are going to focus down here, philadelphia and the suburbs. if you move up here, lehigh county, what's the big difference here? four years ago you see 50 to 45, you come up here now, joe biden at 52. a little bit up here and this was red most of the day yesterday, the election day vote had the president ahead, as they count these mail-in ballots especially in these democratic counties the math is changing. this is southeast pennsylvania,

let's go out to northwest pennsylvania, the other corner of the state, erie county, blue collar town, not far from buffalo, new york. blue collar place, traditionally democratic. four years ago president trump carried ear recounty just barely 49 to 47. this has been a battleground been the battleground. red most of the day yesterday because president trump won by big margin, the election day vote. democrats voted by mail, that's what they're counting last in this state. this flipped to blue last night and there are more votes, up to 95% right now. where you see the deep blue on this map, allegheny county, pittsburgh, another place, 94%, some 36,000 ballots to be counted here. the ones that came in yesterday were coming in at 80% or more for joe biden. so you see that 60% just shy of that is what he is winning in the total vote. remember, election day vote, early vote, mail-in vote, that's everything counted so far, but what is left to be couldn't sd just the mail-in vote and in those mail-in votes joe biden getting high 70s, sometimes over

80%, so the math tells you joe biden when they report more votes out of philadelphia and these other communities across pennsylvania is going to pass that. the challenge in the end is by how much because the president is making at the moment baseless, we have no public documentation of any of what the president is alleging, but without a doubt, you bring that out, 20 electoral votes, that would put joe biden over the finish line, that would be an exclamation point and it's important to note joe biden can win without either of these two states. he is in the lead in georgia, we expect him to pass the president in pennsylvania any minute now, also still leading in arizona and nevada. if he holds those two states where they're counting he is the next president of the united states. this would be an exclamation point, that would be a statement, because it was so important to the president four years ago. this is likely to be the decisive day as we count these votes. >> it would be so important in recreating that blue wall with michigan and wisconsin already going for biden if he got pennsylvania as well that would be the tradition. >> absolutely. so let's look at it that way, let's go back to 2016, these

three states, no offense to the other states that supported the president, but this was the big flip. since 1992 the democrats had carried pennsylvania, michigan and wisconsin. 20, 16, 10, when you are trying to get to 270 those are nice big building blocks, 20, 16 and 10. that was four years ago. here is where we are now, let me turn this off for you and come up here. this is where we are now, one, wisconsin biden, two michigan biden, pennsylvania within minutes keep your eye on this map it's likely to flip. joe biden is winning overwhelming, has more votes than any candidate to ever run for president in the united states of america. that's a great moral victory and a statement for the democrats but that's not how we pick presidents. we pick presidents state by state, you need to get to 270 electoral votes. joe biden at 253. he is leading here and he is leading here. that gets him to the finish line if he holds those leads. this would be a statement. why would it be a statement? the point you just made,

president trump carried all three of these four years ago. joe biden said at the beginning of the campaign there was a great deal of skepticism among younger more progressive democrats he said he was the guy who could turn these states back, it looks like he is on the path to do that. the president will challenge when we see that happen. this will be an additional state, if joe biden can hold this, the sun belt states, not since bill clinton was president of the united states has a democrat carried georgia. joe biden has the potential to get to 306. there is a congressional district in maine, conservative, rural maine to the north, the president is leading there, it's not done yet, but we should assume or at least give the president that, the president's lead in north carolina has held up, they are still counting votes but it's been a steady consistent lead in a republican leaning state and alaska is counting slowly but we expect that to come in republican. that would get the president to 232 if joe biden and, again, want to be clear, not called, not done, not done and not done, but joe biden is leading, leading, leading and any minute

now we expect new votes there. so joe biden has the opportunity to make a statement to get above 300, you see 306 to 232, that's one scenario of how this could play out, you go back in time, take this out, that's exactly how we ended four years ago with the president with 306, the president got his 306. because of that, but joe biden may flip this, there is a congressional district here he flipped and he could be on the virginia of flipping that. still counting votes. fascinating day. >> pennsylvania still 163,000 votes out there. all eyes on pennsylvania right now, we are expecting a new vote count from philadelphia momentarily that could put joe biden closer and closer to the presidency. our special coverage continues right after this. ♪ ♪

welcome book to our special coverage. take a look at pennsylvania right now, very close. trump still maintains a lead of 18,000 votes, 49.5% to 49.2% but any minute now we're waiting for a big batch of votes to be coming in from philadelphia. john king, there's, what, about 50,000 votes outstanding in philadelphia, mail-in ballots that could overwhelmingly go to biden that could flip the state. >> yes, so let's get out to the total. you see the president with an 18,049 vote lead. you see right now 18,049. i want to go gak in time to show people. if you went away for a day or

two, let me come back to the beginning in pennsylvania. i will load it up for you. this is where we were, so this is why republicans are saying what's happening in pennsylvania? well, what's happening in pennsylvania is they're counting votes. election day you see all this red, republicans turned out on election day and as they counted the votes, the president with a big lead, 589,000 this is wednesday morning at 10:00, election day is tuesday. we wake up wednesday and the president's lead starts to fall wednesday afternoon and you see by wednesday night it's down to 182,000 and you see here 146,000 if you go into thursday and you come later on thursday it's down to 108, down to 73 by last night, 6:30 or so, you see they keep counting votes, 63,000 votes, you are down to 22,000 votes there and then you come out live and that's where we are now. there's another way to look at this, wolf, if we can do it one more time. i will do this with a different function here. watch the color of these counties. i will go back to the beginning here. let me explain this first.

keep red means you're winning, solid republican, these counties it's swinging, more light, more even, blue the democrats are winning, you see hoar the swing. watch this play out over time. again, this is how they counted the vote, there is nothing nefarious here. election day president got way ahead, mail-in ballots disproportionately democratic. watch as this plays out. as you see the count come in you see these counties, the red, that means the president is building votes, statewide a 589,000 lead, you see here again a little bit more red, these are philadelphia suburbs, this is philadelphia just north of it, still some red, out here redding and allentown, they're red, you see more red up here, more white here, it's pretty even and in dispute. now we are at wednesday, 11:00, 182,000 statewide lead for the president of the united states. they keep counting mail-in ballots, this stays pretty steady here. watch as we get later into the

count. this one goes from red back to in play, switches to blue, this is thursday night, last night, 6:30 p.m., the lead down to 73,000 and change. you come in here and you watch this play out. they're counting the mail-in votes, disproportionately democratic. you start to see the swing, follow it through to the finish line you get to where we are now, 18,049 votes in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. put it into perspective, shy of 20,000 votes, 3.2 million, 3.2 million, approaches 3.3 million for each candidate. what are we waiting for now? we are waiting for the votes, some more in suburban montgomery county up to 95% but the decisive votes likely to come right here, city of philadelphia, 12% of the votes statewide, the first building block of any democratic win in pennsylvania, you have to run it up here, joe biden is doing that, 526,000 votes, that's the key number, 92%.

we expect some 50,000 pallets to come in from philadelphia, we are told some could come any minute. that could be the decisive vote but it's not the only vote that's still out. in philadelphia in the suburbs i showed you how lehigh counties changes, allentown, it was red to start the day yesterday, it is blue now because they're counting the ballot, still a few more there. and then southeast pennsylvania is the anchor of any democratic win in a competitive race statewide in pennsylvania but then the democrats you can pad it by doing this, this was red late last night, late in the evening last night, this went from red to blue as they count the mail-in ballots, still a few left in erie county, 40, 50%, if you round up to 49%. if joe biden needs a cushion there are still 36,000 ballots or so to be counted in the pittsburgh area, allegheny county. >> 163,000 in the entire state and we will start getting those numbers very soon, at any moment we're expecting a new vote count

from philadelphia that could change everything for joe biden in pennsylvania and potentially in the race for the white house. our special coverage continues right after this.

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we are about to get new numbers from pennsylvania. right now president trump maintains his 18,000 vote over joe biden 49.5% to 49.2%. kate bolduan is in philadelphia for us getting new information. we know there are about, kate, 50,000 outstanding votes in philadelphia where you are. what are we anticipating? >> reporter: yeah, wolf, so the outstanding number is 50,000 votes to be counted. we just got an update from a source that in about 10 to 15 minutes they will be posting their next update and it will be north of 20,000 votes counted. so that will cut significantly into the number of outstanding mail-in ballots to be counted here in philadelphia. as we know, that has been a big question of when was philadelphia going to wrap up, when were they going to get it done. i've been told by sources it has been a full-court press to

move -- move through these ballots, get them through the process and get the information uploaded to their website, but the focus all throughout is not to rush. they stress to me over and over. it is to get it right and by right i mean they mean accurate. but that is where they are, they've been working throughout the night. it's been fluid this morning in terms of when the next updates would come, but you can only work as fast as you can get the ballots and everyone involved in that process is going to move and to do it appropriately, accurately, securely all throughout. but that is the latest update. we should be learning a significant update, 10 to 15 minutes, something north of 20,000 votes counted here in philadelphia. >> and i assume we will get the remaining 30,000 in philadelphia, kate, in the hours that follow later today, right? >> reporter: it would not surprise me. look, we have 50,000 outstanding, when we woke up or

just didn't fall asleep overnight and it would not surprise me at all if they finished it up today. >> we will watch it closely, kate. thank you very much. 10 to 15 minutes could get john king another 20,000 votes. right now trump is ahead by about 18,000 votes. >> talking about statewide so you can see that, he is ahead by 18,049, if you get 20,000 votes joe biden has been winning over 80% of the votes when we get them, so if it's 80/20 the president trump would still be in the lead when you count 20,000 votes, but just barrel. so the question is how far north? kate says north of 20,000 votes, is it 25,000 votes, is it 30,000 votes, if it's 30,000, 80% plus for joe biden just that vote count alone could change the map. we will see. let's count them when they come in. 18,000 vote lead, 18,000 and change and you have as you noted in your conversation with kate 50,000 still to come. if we get 20,000 plus the lead

is in peril, number two it will tell us are we continuing the pattern. if you are president trump you've been watching in the last 12, 15 hours this snowball coming down a hill with joe biden getting 80% when they bring in these votes, 80% when they bring in more votes, sometimes 85% when more of these vote ballots are counted from county to county across the commonwealth of pennsylvania. if you are in the trump campaign you need to stop that snowball, just simple gravity now it's coming down faster. there any indication donald trump will get that kind of luck or that kind of change and momentum out of philadelphia? i'm skeptical, but let's watch the votes when they come in. so what happens then as they count those votes there is if that flips, 20,000 votes wouldn't be enough to do it most likely, unless joe biden wins them all, but as you go through the count more to come from allegheny, erie, the suburbs around here. there is this inevitability to this, unless we see some evidence that somehow in the mail ballots being counted all of a sudden republicans start to do better. for anyone who hasn't watched from the beginning you see all

this sea of red, yes, the president turned out his votes, 3.2 million, almost 3..3, more votes than the president received in pennsylvania four years ago. but the democrats are coming out, too. they counted the election votes first, that's all that red, republican votes, they're counting the mail-in ballots now, democrats voted disproportionately by mail. there's nothing nefarious happening now. they're counting votes in a democracy in the sequence in which this state decided to count them. there's so much being said by the himself and the president's supporters that this is somehow wrong. it is not wrong. the state of ohio did it the opposite way, they counted the mail-in ballots first. if you were with us on election night we were here saying, wow, joe biden is in play in ohio, a traditionally republican state and this was blue for a long time because they counted the mail-in ballots first and they were disproportionately democratic. then they counted the election day vote, the president ran up and has an impressive win in the state of ohio. this played out, the democrats are not screaming fraud, they

watched people count the votes they just counted them in reverse order, the mail-in ballots first, joe biden pulled ahead, the election day votes the president passed him. good for the president in ohio. they are just doing it here in reverse order. that was the state's decision. each state in the united states of america decided how to administer it's election. they thought in this state they would be overwhelmed with high turnout on election day, that wanted to count those votes first. they're counting them now, that's what's happening, we call it math and joe biden inevitably is about to pass that. will it come from the next installment of votes? we will see. how north of 20,000 is philadelphia when we get those votes in minute. and even if it doesn't get you all the way there the question is does the biden momentum continue or is there any evidence the president is stopping it? mark me down as skeptical that evidence would come out of if i will fill. >> we spoke to democratic senator bob casey of pennsylvania yesterday. there's still 163,000 votes outstanding in the entire state of pennsylvania, 50,000 in

philadelphia itself, but he was suggesting that given the fact that these are mail-in ballots and the -- and biden does really well, maybe 70%, 80%, he thought in the end when all the vote in pennsylvania was counted biden might have the lead maybe as much as 100,000 votes over trump. i think it's probably more realisting to think maybe 50,000 or 60,000. >> we should know more by the end of the day, but senator casey has that view. i did some math in a conservative count, how it was trending for biden i got up to 50,000 vote margin. if you are trying to think at home what is the probability of joe biden not only passing that but then keeping t again, 160,000 votes and change still out. if joe biden gets 55%, 56%, he would pass, he would have the lead at the end of the day. 55% or 56% he would have the lead at the end of the day when they are all counted. well, if you were with us yesterday you understand this, in these mail-in ballots he is consistently getting 79%, 80%, in some of these counties higher

than 80%, he only needs 56. that's the key. watch the trend line. if joe biden continues to get high 60s or 70s or even in philadelphia he's been getting over 80% of the vote as they count these mail-in ballots then that means the snowball is rolling and gaining steam. >> and the president has himself at least partially to blame the fact that biden does so well with the mail-in ballots because he was ridiculing these mail-in ballots throughout the remaining weeks of the campaign telling his voters go out there and vote in person, don't trust the mail. >> right. the president said that that would be rigged, that would be fraudulent, that would be open to fraud. there's zero evidence of that. again, the president's come back in ohio tells you a democrat can take a lead in mail-in votes, a republican can overcome it in with election day votes. in the end you're counting votes. in the end they're counted and you do the math and see the winner. as the president complains about it here a democratic governor who he has complained about throughout the covid crisis, democrat here the president complains there's something

going on in the city of philadelphia, it's democrats, i just want to remind people in georgia, this is a republican governor, a republican secretary of state and the exact same thing happened. president built a giant lead in the election day vote, they start counting the mail-in ballots, joe biden now 1,000 votes ahead, a little more than that in the state of georgia. it's the same exact thing in a republican state here with a republican administration doing what they're supposed to do, taking their part hat off, and counting votes. >> 10,000 votes in georgia outstanding right now. those are mail-in ballots as well. potentially that lead could increase for biden in georgia. >> yes, because, again, it's almost been exactly the same as what we've had in pennsylvania. they counted the republican votes on election day, the president turned out a lot of votes, 2020, 2.4 million for the president of the united states, in georgia he won with just over 2 million votes. the president turned out his vote. this is not a question of republicans not turning out to support the president. the president turned out his

vote in georgia, his rallies in the final days clearly helped intensify republican turnout on election day. democrats had a clear strategy, stay safe, covid, don't get stuck in a long line, vote by mail. that's what they d they're counting those ballots later and, again, we've seen it in just about every state, joe biden is getting very high percentages of the mail-in ballots and, again, as the president, you know -- give the president is chance, let me try to document anything he sees, but what he has said so far he has not attached any evidence to and if it's happening in pennsylvania why wasn't he said it in georgia? there is a republican governor here, a democratic governor there, what they are doing is counting votes and as they count them overnight georgia went from red to blue, in i minute we're expecting more votes here. just to button it up, the president of the united states cannot win reelection unless he wins that and that. >> so we're waiting for pennsylvania, another batch, maybe 20,000 plus according to kate bolduan about to come in. let's check back with jay. >> as we wait for the votes to come in from pennsylvania and

georgia and nevada and arizona it does appear as though joe biden is on the cusp of some big news today. let's check in with the biden campaign, jeff zeleny is in wilmington, delaware for us. jeff, nothing has been called, nothing is definitive, but joe biden has to be able to read the writing on the wall. is he preparing for the moment that might come soon? >> reporter: jay, there is no question the biden campaign is preparing for this moment. of course he will be delivering a speech at some point when the race is called, if that's during the daytime, afternoon or evening hours the stage that you've seen behind me is set and they're waiting. that is not all the biden team is doing, they're also moving to make other announcements of this transition team, which has been in place for several months. on labor day they announced a transition team, that's not being presumptuous, that is required by law of all presidential nominees to have a transition team in place.

so that is what they will do. i'm told that they plan to occupy this space fairly quickly as president elect. they plan to make announcements in some respect of who will be leading this organization and other ways, perhaps somebig names on that, but they are going to move forward on this. this of course is a serious time for the country with coronavirus, the economic challenges, other threats facing this country. so look for joe biden once this race is called, again, they are not getting ahead of themselves here, but look for them to move quickly with some transition announcements here. that is what is going on behind the scenes, but i can tell you, jake, the former vice president and his aides have their eyes on pennsylvania like the rest of the country and indeed the world to see what happens in that state first. >> jeff zeleny with the biden campaign in wilmington, delaware. i can't help but think about this, abby, that joe biden his basic pitch to democratic voters is i can rebuild that blue wall, i'm a son of scranton, i can

talk to people in the midwest, in wisconsin and michigan, i will be able to bring us the presidency. while we have not called pennsylvania it is trending in that direction and it does appear that joe biden will be able to deliver on that promise to democratic voters. >> right. holding the blue wall is a two-pronged task for democrats. it was recovering some losses from four years ago in some more purple counties and some of these states like wisconsin and michigan and pennsylvania, and it's juicing the turn up in the big cities, like in detroit and like in philadelphia. and it seems like we've already called wisconsin and michigan, joe biden was able to do that. the trend in pennsylvania is that he was also able to do that. he narrowed trump's margins in some of these counties that trump even won, but it's really in philadelphia that will deliver potentially as early as this morning the flip that we have all been waiting for. 50,000 outstanding votes, the lion's share going to joe biden

would take him over the top and that is because of black voters in large part, it's because of democrats who came out in massive numbers even while president trump had his supporters come on in very large numbers in some of the more rural parts. >> that's right. the reason the blue wall crumbled four years ago is what you just described didn't happen, the last part, meaning democrats didn't come out for hillary clinton in the numbers that she needed in the cities, in the suburbs, particularly in pennsylvania, but it's not as if this time donald trump was a slouch. i mean, he did extraordinarily well in the places he did well four years ago. and just the total number, already we're still waiting for votes and already pennsylvania is about close to 400,000 votes more now in 2020 total than four years ago which tells a story that you were just describing,

democrats who stayed home for hillary clinton came out for joe biden and it is because of his pitch and also, let's be honest, because they wanted to vote against donald trump. >> right. and the trump presidency four years ago was theoretical and there was also this perception that the election was in the bag for hillary clinton. so i don't know if it was a lack of enthusiasm for hillary clinton or sexism or misogyny or what. >> all of the above. >> or all of the above, but it all meant that they didn't turn out in these numbers now the trump presidency is not theoretical, it is a reality and people did turn out for the democrat, a potentially game changing new vote count is expected any minute from the great city of philadelphia. will this put joe biden in the lead in pennsylvania, the all important keystone state? stay with us, our special coverage continues next.

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welcome back to day four of cnn's election night in america. you're looking right now at live pictures from the philadelphia

convention center where votes are being tabulated. we expect some new votes to come in from the great city of philadelphia any minute now. the margin is razor thin in pennsylvania, the keystone state. whoever wins pennsylvania, if it's joe biden, that could mean he is well on his way to the presidency, but nothing has been called yet. we are waiting to see, of course, the writing is on the wall, it has been trending in biden's direction for several days now in georgia, in pennsylvania and in nevada. let's check in with kaitlan collins who is covering the trump white house for us. kaitlan, at a time like this any normal president would be preparing two speeches, a victory speech and a concession speech. that's a normal president, of course. president trump likes to do things his own way. is there any preparation going on for president trump to get bad news? >> reporter: no. and i'm actually being told by sources that in recent days the

president has said he has no plans to concede this election to joe biden even if his path to victory is effectively blocked, which it could be by a biden win in pennsylvania or in somewhere like georgia, but despite that the president has said that he has no plans to concede this election as he has continued to push this baseless claim that the election is being stolen from him. jake, the question that immediately follows that, i think s who around the president is being frank and honest with him about his chances of getting a second term in the white house, and i'm told that one person who is not is the chief of staff mark meadows who has effectively been feeding the president's claims about voter fraud, about this being stolen from him, about this conspiracy that he touted in the briefing room yesterday that they are stealing this election from him, but of course not from republicans down the ballot. mark meadows is not someone who has been frank with the president about his claims and about whether or not there is evidence to back up what the president is saying. so that creates this conversation about who is going

to be the -- the person that's going to reckon with the president and tell him that his time in office could be coming to an end? that's a conversation that i'm told the president's allies are still having, they're not sure who that person is going to be. they've talked about jared kushner, someone like an ivanka trump, but they haven't figured out who it is to bring the president to terms with reality to realize there is a real chance here that he could lose this election and he could lose it sooner than he thinks. instead of president has been operating on this idea that he is going to continue to push these claims and somehow that's going to buy him time. jake, that just doesn't appear to be the case right now. so the question is if the president is refusing to concede this election, even if it's clear he has no path to victory, what is the next step for the white house? are they going to have some kind of what amounts to basically an intervention with the president to get him to come to terms with what's actually going on and what the map is showing. >> it's just hard to believe that that is where we are as a

country. kaitlan collins, thanks so much. let's bring in ben ginsburg, a republican election official. is he there with us? there he is. ben, let me ask you, first of all, i have seen no credible evidence of voter fraud in any way. what is the president's legal strategy here, if there is one, and what is the possible path he could take, a credible path? >> well, the credible path is to actually be able to produce evidence in the individual states to show fraud to throw the results in doubt. so far we've seen absolutely nothing that would rise to that level. bombastic statements do not work in the recount and contest proceedings in states, you have to show about individual ballots. what's also true, and i know this from experience, if you haven't developed the evidence on election day in realtime

you're not going to be able to mount it and collect it afterwards. you're at the stage where staffers are sleep deprived and not wanting to face reality, so there will be all sorts of legal conspiracy theories, but the president doesn't have many options absent real evidence. >> and, ben, i guess one of the questions i have here, you are a long-time republican, respected republican attorney in washington, d.c., is there anyone in this city, any republican elected official or leader, who has the ability to put the united states of america as its top priority as his or her top priority and go to president trump and deliver to him the reality that it looks as though he's going to lose and he needs to prepare to concede and move on? is there anyone capable of that?

>> well, the people who would have to do it are the people who hold his electoral fate in their hands and at that point it becomes the republicans in the house and senate. i think that his speech last night tells you that there's nobody within the white house who can tell him that. i mean, honestly, the staffers -- the white house staffers i have worked with would have not allowed their principal to go out and give remarks like he gave last night, but the direct answer to your question is his strategy has to be a play in the congress when the electoral college slates are given to congress. those folks, members of the house and senate who have to vote on that, going to him and saying, we're not going to be with you, you're on your own here, would be the message that would get him to stop. in other words, it's not -- it's not an appeal to patriotism, it's the shear raw political

power of votes in congress. >> ben, it's dana bash. can you just drill down on that a little bit more? how would that work, what you just described? >> well, the way it works is that on december 14th in each state capitol in the country you look at the certified results of that state and whoever wins it gets his slate of electors. those slates of electors get taken to congress, congress opens them, receives them on december 26th, the house of representatives opens them on january 6th, new house, and members at that point can object to a slate of electors. at that point both the house and the senate go in their separate chambers, debate it, have to agree on an objection to a slate. obviously with the republican senate and a democratic house, that's not going to happen.

so the slates get accepted. >> yeah, so -- >> and then you move on. >> so that is a scenario that the constitution obviously put in place for one of the worst case scenarios, but before we even get to that potential space, one of the questions is pennsylvania because we've already heard republicans like lindsey graham put into question whether or not the electors could be seated in pennsylvania. is that part of the trump legal strategy if there is one that you see, to try to delay that? i think you have to put legal strategy in quotes there. so at this point it's the fevered pipe dreams of, gee, what can we do now? we're not going to give up. and the direct answer to that is that you would try to go in an individual state like pennsylvania, claim that there were so many votes in dispute, so much fraud, so much irregularities that in point of fact the secretary of state can't certify the final results.

and so at that point there is no official declared winner in a state. that throws the ball back to the state about are you going to not have electors go into the electoral college. that's the scenario where a state -- >> ben, i'm sorry, i have to interrupt you. ben, i'm sorry, i have to interrupt you. thank you so much for your expertise there, i'm going to go to wolf blitzer right now. >>. joe biden takes the lead in pennsylvania, a major, major development right now. take a look at this. biden 49.4%, trump 49.3%. biden takes the lead. he is ahead by 5,587 votes with the votes that have just come in, 20 electoral votes in pennsylvania, biden takes the lead. gets go over to john king and see what's going on. john, this is a dramatic, dramatic development. 20 electoral votes in pennsylvania. >> dramatic and potentially

decisive. the president cannot win reelection without pennsylvania and without georgia. overnight georgia flipped blue, seconds ago pennsylvania flipped to the blue. we cannot understate this moment. it's not over, still counting votes, but joe biden now in the lead in pennsylvania, in the lead in georgia, in the lead in nevada, in the lead in arizona. more than enough to win the presidency right now. let's see what just happened in pennsylvania, it is blue right now. remember it was red in 2016, donald trump won the presidency in part because of this state, he was ahead, donald trump was, just moments ago, by a little more than 18,000 votes. joe biden now 5,587 votes ahead, votes came in from right here in philadelphia just moments ago, joe biden now at 313,000 votes, 95% of the vote in. important to note, wolf, there are still more votes to get, that's montgomery county, i'm sorry, i touched the wrong line, 95% of the votes in in philadelphia, 80 from philadelphia right here. there are still more votes to come from philadelphia but they just updated their vote count

and as they did, again, the president of the united states moments ago had an 18,000 vote lead in pennsylvania, joe biden now 5,587 vote lead and that math -- >> we just got the numbers, the exact numbers from philadelphia that just came in. we'll share them with our viewers right now. biden, let's start off with biden, he got 27,396 votes, trump got 3,760 votes. biden got 87% of the votes. there were 31,412 votes that we just tallied, they just came in, you can see what's going on. 87% of that vote came in for biden, as a result he has now taken the lead in pennsylvania by 5,587 votes. >> and this is a very important number. that is overwhelming math, you can do that, your eyes tell you that is correct that's overwhelming math, but this is the important number because we have seen it consistently out of

these democratic strong holds. as we came in this morning joe biden needed to win, 55%, 56% of the outstanding vote in pennsylvania to overtake the presidency. we keep seeing this as the votes come in, upwards, north of 80%, 87% in the latest installment. kate bolduan said they would report north of 20,000 votes, they did, they came in north of 30,000 votes and that was the question, how many votes and what would the percentage be. there was an 18,000 vote lead for the president of the united states, you can do this math at home, that 27,000 overtook, not nearly j in you have to jaut set it, 87% out of this count in philadelphia. this is now the potentially decisive moment in the race. joe biden pulls ahead, again, that's close, we're going to count the rest of the votes, the president is making allegations of all sorts of bad things. >> there's another potentially 20,000 votes outstanding in philadelphia alone, we're waiting for those numbers. >> right, 20,000 more votes here in philadelphia, a small number of votes, too, in the suburban

collar counties around philadelphia which are voting overwhelmingly for joe biden, overwhelmingly for joe biden anyway, even more so in these mail-in ballots, you have votes to come from allentown in the lehigh county, more votes to come from allegheny county which is pittsburgh. if you've been with us over the last 24 hours when these mail-in ballots are coming in they are coming in overwhelmingly 70% or higher. this has been a trend continuing, especially philadelphia obviously the democratic city in southeastern pennsylvania, but 87% of the ballots joe biden needed 55, 56 to overtake the president, he is a getting 86, 87%. if that continues not only do you have a lead but you build a lead. to come back out, just look at this map right now if you look here and here and here, this is what we're still waiting on today, joe biden leads and leads and leads. i circle those states because if you go back to 2016, trump state, trump state, trump state and more significantly remember this, this was the whole reason donald trump is president, wisconsin, michigan,

pennsylvania, that's 2016, here is where we stand on this decisive day of the 2020 election, wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania back in the democratic hold for now. joe biden now more than enough -- if this holds more than enough to get across the finish line. >> as we've been pointing out all along pennsylvania with its 20 electoral votes, more than enough -- more than enough even if he loses everything else if biden wins just pennsylvania he's got 253 right now, if he gets those 20 that's 273, you need 270, he is the president elect. >> that's why the president was so mad in the briefing room yesterday, 253 right now, 20, that's the largest prize still on the board. that alone would get joe biden to 273 and just a reminder, joe biden leads here, joe biden leads here, joe biden leads here. so joe biden has the potential to get to 306 electoral college votes and that's exactly the total president trump won four years ago. again, to be careful, we're going to continue to count the votes and respect the process, but what you see right now the

trajectory in pennsylvania joe biden narrowed it, narrowed it, narrowed it, now he has overtaken the president and we expect that lead to grow in the hours ahead, same thing happened overnight here in georgia, joe biden's lead they count the mail-in ballots, he eclipsed the ballot. we have some counting to do. the president has narrowed the lead in arizona. we will continue to count votes throughout the day. do not understate this moment, that one blue, this one blue, the president cannot win reelection without both of those states. they have now flipped to joe biden. they are blue, the trajectory of this race has turned in a decisive way. >> i want to check in with david chali chalian. biden has taken the lead in pennsylvania, 20 electoral votes but cnn is not yet ready to make a projection. tell our viewers why. >> what's happening now is we got this new vote installment, you see that 5,587 vote lead. so what our decision desk is doing, wolf, is calculating what do we know about the outstanding

vote in pennsylvania, what do we know about the rate it's been coming in as john is explaining, with he keep seeing, i think you said it was 87% of this vote installment in philadelphia went to joe biden, that kind of rate in how trump and biden are splitting these remaining votes are going into the calculations and we need to see a level of confidence when we are looking for these calculations that the candidate in second place, now donald trump in pennsylvania, is not at all likely to overtake the candidate in first place, now joe biden in pennsylvania. when we get to that level of competence that that cannot happen then a projection gets made. so now with this small lead that joe biden has taken here, 5,000 votes, we will be looking at those calculations, seeing if we can get to a level of confidence that donald trump is not going to overtake joe biden with all that we understand about the vote outstanding, where it's from, the fact that it's very

pro biden mail vote that is mostly outstanding. we will need that into the analysis and when we get to that level of confidence we will be able to make a projection. as john said, that may take additional votes to come in, we'll see as we continue to crunch the numbers. >> it's interesting, david, because there were 163,000 outstanding votes in pennsylvania, 31,000 came in in philadelphia right now, biden got the overwhelming majority, 87% of those votes, so there are still about another 130,000 rough numbers, 130,000 votes outstanding, david, in pennsylvania right now so we are waiting to see how those unfold. we do anticipate that biden will win decisively because those are mail-in ballots. >> right, and we know -- we have been seeing joe biden winning these mail ballots not just sort of 75/25, 80/20. look what happened in philadelphia he got 87% of them. we know there's still a bench of vote in philadelphia to count. when that kind of biden advantage vote gets put into the

vote totals it just boosts that level of confidence that this will be potentially out of reach for donald trump, this current lead at the moment we are taking a look to see if it gives us that necessary level of confidence, but in the meantime we will await more vote to come into pennsylvania as we continue to make those calculations. >> let's go back to john. about 130,000 votes still outstanding in the state of pennsylvania right now. do we know roughly where those votes are? >> yes, and let me say this at the top, the president now, the president now, because joe biden is in the lead, would have to win 52% of the remaining votes to catch up and to have a narrow lead. he would have to win 52%. as david just noted, very important, consistently in the last 24 hours, even in the red counties, we got some vote yesterday in mercer county, the president is winning by a lopsided margin, the votes at that came in in mercer county were 80% for joe biden.

that has been a trend we have seen consistently. where are the votes still out? we know there's several still, many still, thousands here in philadelphia. joe biden in the last installment from philadelphia had 87% of the vote. so your expectation is you see he's winning 81% right now in the total vote, that's election day vote, in line early voting and election day votes and mail-in votes. there are some there, you click around, montgomery county is up to 95%, a few ballots that could come in during the day, you come around to chester county at 95%, delaware county 95%. they're largely done but there are still some more votes to come in. if they come in from there they're disproportionately democratic. lehigh county up to 95% as well. they are progressing in this count. we do know this, there are more than 36,000 votes some of which we expect this morning, later, 5:00 in the evening is when we're told we will get the bulk of them. allegheny county, pittsburgh and

the surrounding area. look, joe biden in the total vote, including election day, is getting nearly 60%. again, every time we see just the mail-in -- the mail-in subset, joe biden is 70% or higher, mostly 80% or higher. i want to check on erie county. they look for the population centers first, they are up to 95% here. we have these ballots out, that tells you you have have some counties, philadelphia we know there is a bunch, in the suburbs we know there are some and lehigh as i just said they are up to 95%. lackawanna county which is scranton up here 95%. you will add a couple hundred here, a couple hundred here. we know there are thousands in the city of philadelphia and they are trending joe biden's way and quite convincingly. >> 20,000 outstanding in philadelphia right now and if biden continues to get 80 -- he got 87% the first 30,000 that just comes in, if he continues to get 85% of that remaining 20,000 that lead that he has right now 5,500 or whatever it

is is going to go up dramatically. >> right. and, again, even philadelphia now up to 95%. so you're getting -- marching closer and closer to a full and complete count. as david noted, our excellent people on the decision desk running the math and checking in with counties and statewide officials what's out and you look at the probability. statistically we have watched what has happened over the last 24 hours as these mail-in votes have been counted. we came in this morning there was an 18,000 lead for the president and then they started to come in from philadelphia and other places, 18,000, now 5,500. the challenge if you are the president you need to win 52% of the remaining outstanding ballots is for votes to come in and for us to see he stopped it, but we have not seen that in the last 24 hours. every single place, again, even in these ruby red counties when votes are coming in they're at 95% here we are seeing because of the way people voted election day, that's all that red, vote by mail, disproportionately overwhelmingly so democratic. we just saw 87% in philadelphia,

we've seen 82, 83% as we go through other counties. everything we have seen and everything that has been counted in the last 24 hours tells us that lead is going to grow but our people, very smart people who are out there crunching the numbers they want to see a few more votes to make sure that the trajectory continues. >> even in the red counties biden does so much better than these mail-in ballots than the day of ballots. >> westmoreland county in western pennsylvania, this is a big part of the trump base, very popular, the tenth largest, 67 counties in pennsylvania it's the tenth, the president runs it up in the tiny counties. 127 to 69,000. even here, this is the uniqueness of this election because of the coronavirus and the different ways of voting, the uniqueness of this election is on election day the president runs it up, he gets 64% in westmoreland county. we go back in time here, 64% four years ago when the president carried pennsylvania. not a lot changed in terms of the county swinging back and forth, what changed is more people voted and the democrats at the moment are winning the turn out war in pennsylvania,

but even when this happened, the president gets 64%, when they count just the mail-in ballots, joe biden is getting 70% or 80% or higher because that's how democrats voted. there's nothing wrong with that, they're just counting votes. they counted td election day first, the president posted a big lead in westmoreland and statewide. the lead was up above 600,000 votes because they counted the election balloting first. 5587 and counting. >> the democrats -- a lot of democrats wanted to vote by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic. they didn't necessarily want to wait in long lines at polling stations on election day. republicans, on the other hand, were told by the president don't use the mail in, go vote personally. >> you had two different strategies and the challenge today is to see if joe biden crosses the finish line. it looks likely that that could happen. there will be challenges, they will go back and recheck the ballots and everything, there might be recounts in some of these states, but we are potentially within minutes even if not hours of joe biden

crossing the threshold. that's the challenge, that's the immediate challenge, but to your point one of the lessons of this pandemic election will be if you make it easier for people to vote, meaning expanding the options, mail-in or expanded early voting where you can vote in person, drop boxes, although that's a controversy in some states and election day turnout what happens? both candidates get more votes, both political parties get more votes. that's a win right there. joe biden 73.8 million votes, joe biden will hit 74 million votes today, the president of the united states could well reach 70 million votes. let's go back in time to the last election, 65, 62, four years ago hillary clinton wins the popular vote but loses because of electoral college, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. won the popular vote. you see there 65 to 62, fast forward, 73 to 70 if you round the president up with votes still coming in. joe biden could well reach 75 million votes. in this pandemic election the

challenges of voting, the safety issues and the like, expand the opportunities, expand the ways you can vote plus the intensity, let's make no mistake about that, there's intensity on both sides because of our polarized politics, you get more voters. that's a good thing. now we count them. the decisive moment we are at is because that has gone from red to blue, that has gone from red to blue overnight. joe biden now beyond knocking at the door, he is on the verge of getting 270 electoral votes if that trend line continues in pennsylvania, let's take a look, we haven't seen this in some time, still 1,097 there. narrow leads for joe biden but the trajectory has been methodically chipping away at the president's leads in both of those states, now starting to methodically build leads of his own as we count more votes in georgia and in pennsylvania. >> biden is now ahead of trump in pennsylvania by 5,587 votes. that's significant, jake, because that number almost certainly is going to go up in the next hour or two or three. biden is going to build his lead

in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. >> that's right, wolf. we are witnessing democracy in action. we are witnessing history in the making. joe biden on the verge of becoming the next 46th president of the united states. we have not declared pennsylvania or georgia or arizona or nevada yet, but he leads in all four states, as they count the legally cast votes by the american people in those four states. let's check in with jeff zeleny who covers the biden campaign for us, he's in wilmington, delaware. jeff, we are on the edge of a historic moment right now. >> reporter: we are indeed, jake, and there are many signs happening here in wilmington and around delaware that are pointing to this moment almost happening. yes, joe biden if he were to be elected would be the oldest president in the u.s., there is much history being -- happening here. we will get to that when it comes, but there are also some urgent things happening right now. there is a national defense air

space i'm told that has been placed over the biden's home, this is coming from our aviation correspondent who says there will be a national defense air space that is put over the biden home which is protocol here when something like this is on the verge of happening. we have also seen with our own eyes in recent days and certainly in the last several hours there are more secret service agents present and they are beefing up their force which comes with every president elect. when that happens they will be in place with the former vice president, they will become part of joe biden's detail should that happen. jake, there are a variety of things happening here in wilmington that, of course, are amplifying what is happening on the ground in pennsylvania and indeed those other battleground states across the country. we are still not aware of when there would be a speech today here in wilmington, but, again, that stage is still set up behind us. so many things happening behind the scenes, but security is changing here, jake, and that is because of what's happening in pennsylvania. jake?

>> jeff zeleny, thanks so much. and, dana bash, one of the things that you have to give joe biden credit for, although, again, we have not declared anything, is is it incredibly difficult to defeat an incumbent president. >> yes. >> it has only happened, i believe, four other times in american history. joe biden is on the verge of making it happen a fifth time. >> that's right. most one-term presidents are one term for other reasons not because they tried and failed. joe biden has tried and failed before to be president and it looks like the third time might be a charm if we look at the vote totals on the right of the screen there. there is going to be a lot to discuss about how he got to this place. the unlikely, absolutely, you know -- the path that he took which is unlike most democratic nominees that we have seen or

nominees of both parties, even though he is about as traditional a politician as we can imagine. >> yeah, i mean, this is a study in contrasts where you have a joe biden who has been in politics and in american life for decades going up against a president who is unlike any president we have ever had and i do think that it's, as you pointed out, jake, not just because it's so difficult to unseat an incumbent, but this particular incumbent is somewhat who is frankly if we're being honest a political force. look at what he did to bring out voters that even republicans didn't think were out there. this was a tough fight. there were some democrats perhaps who thought it was going to be easy, but it was stuff and this race is tight. joe biden, i think, understands that, yes, it was hard to get there, but if he goes over the top and this race is called in his favor, the real battle is going to begin tomorrow, the day

after, the day after that. one thing i will say about where we are tonight, i think we should be clear with people. we are not called this race. all the votes have not been counted. but two things are happening, the president if he thinks he has a good shot at winning should be the one clamoring for as many votes to be counted as possible. he is not doing that. right now the other thing that is happening is that on the board right now joe biden is leading in almost all of the states that are uncounted. for president trump to turn that around is going to be a herculean effort. it's going to take a significant effort and it's going to take a lot of votes. so i think we should be clear that this is an uncalled race, but the task at hand for president trump to turn this around, the bar is very high. >> it is uncalled, but we all know because we have covered campaigns and these moments when a candidate is on the cusp of winning, which means the opponent is on the cusp of

losing, a phone call generally happens. >> yes. >> it happened four years ago, i remember getting from a source who was with donald trump the phone rang and it was hillary clinton conceding. none of us should expect that to happen anytime soon. it is one of a million reasons why this is completely unconventional, but it doesn't mean that if those votes come in in pennsylvania and are really showing a substantial lead in a way that donald trump can't overcome, it doesn't make that any less real. >> and let's be honest because a concession is not necessary under the u.s. constitution. >> that's what i mean, it doesn't make it any less real. >> it's not necessary. whether or not donald trump acts like an adult if joe biden becomes the next president, joe biden will become the next president and donald trump will be, if it comes down to it, physically escorted from the building if it comes down to it if he just refuses to acknowledge reality. but the fact that as we just

heard from jeff zeleny in wilmington, secret service are -- agents are increasing their presence around the former vice president, joe biden, that there is now air protection above him, underlines the seriousness of this moment, the seriousness with which officials, whether in the military or the u.s. secret service, take potential threats against joe biden. that's why the secret service agents are there. that's why they're clearing the air space over his house in delaware. and this is why i say, again, it is time for republican leaders, mitch mcconnell, kevin mccarthy and others, people in the white house who should know better, it is time for them to start preparing president trump for the bad news because it looks like that is where we are headed and there are a number of republican elected officials,

including those who have been putting out mealy mouth statements this morning about election integrity, acting as if this is some sort of both sides story, when it isn't. >> it is not. >> people have to decide which they love more, the united states of america and the american people or one singular politician. >> so the question is -- it's a really, really good point and the question is what is the m.o. of the republican leadership going to be? is it going to be a howard baker-like march down pennsylvania avenue to talk to the president and say, game over? you're done? or is it going to be a strategy to just ignore the noise that's going on and move on with the business of transitioning to a new presidency? and i could see both happening and frankly the latter given the way that these republicans have been to, frankly, afraid to confront president trump -- >> so weak. >> -- and their base is still

the same, if not more galvanized right now, i can't see that changing. they are more afraid now. >> they are more afraid now. there is no question about it. what happened on tuesday was that many republicans lived to see another day because of the turnout that donald trump was able to bring out in their districts and in certain states, but it may not be enough for donald trump but it was enough for them. they are beholden to this president so that's why you're seeing, you know, these really weak -- i mean, they're weak statements, even from mitt romney who has been a strong critic of the president, his statement was very milquetoast. i think you're going to see more of that. we've been asking for months will the president have a peaceful transfer of power? will he agree to that? it's been a theoretical question. it may not be theoretical in a

few hours potentially. this is where the rubber meets the road. within we talk about a peaceful transition of power, a concession is not required but it is the thing that causes a peaceful transfer to happen. >> this is not just a matter of good manners, this is not just a matter of grace, this is a matter of life and death. there have been arrests made, somebody was arrested driving up to the philadelphia convention center because of the nonsense, i assume, repeated by republicans on fox. we should actually take -- i don't normally talk about any competing network, but the murdochs and the people at fox have an obligation to put their country above their profits. it is very important that people make it very clear that this election, there is no credible evidence that we have seen of

widespread fraud, by all accounts joe biden is on the press 'tis of becoming the next president, squa fair and square people who have the privilege of sitting in seats like we're sitting in right now have the obligation to convey that to their viewers so that there is a peaceful transfer of power and so that there isn't violence. >> and can we just talk about one of the things you just mentioned there, which is we are on the cusp of joe biden very likely becoming the 46th president of the united states. we are literally just waiting for a wave of votes to come in as pennsylvania counts the votes. this is not something that we are supposing, this is something that democrats inside the biden campaign, republicans inside the trump campaign are expecting and waiting for. it's a matter of time right now. and this is a moment in history,

it really is, and it's not -- and it's not just a run-of-the-mill presidential election. this is a democrat who decided to run, came out of retirement to defeat a president potentially as we expect it to happen who he thought was an existential threat to democracy. >> and i think we should also talk about what john king was talking about not too long ago. we are about to -- in pennsylvania we're waiting for some votes, but if joe biden performs the way he's been performing, he could end up with a margin in pennsylvania that is about what donald trump won by in that state four years ago, same is true of michigan where joe biden right now is well ahead of where donald trump won that state four years ago, wisconsin the same thing. at the end of the day if this map stays the way that it is, yes, this is a deeply divided country, but it is possible that

joe biden could end up with upwards of 300 electoral votes at the end of the day, which would be -- look, it would be notable and extraordinary and as extraordinary as what we saw four years ago. donald trump came out of that election with a mandate, you're going to see the biden campaign trying to negotiate what this means for him. there is some kind of mandate coming out with a large electoral college lead, but they also understand that the division in this country he can't lead like donald trump led, he has to take it a different direction because that's -- if he wins this election it would be because he is not the donald trump of this election. >> and it is possible theat he will have the exact same electoral count that donald trump had, i think it's 305. >> 306. >> 306 electoral votes. he will have a popular vote margin of victory that donald trump did not have.

donald trump lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes and it looks like joe biden will have a popular vote victory, right now it's in excess of 4 million votes, it could be even higher. >> and more votes than any presidential candidate in history because of the turnout that we have seen in this election. >> and we could wait for the moment to happen or we could talk about it now. we're going to see a major moment in history. the first female vice president it looks like it going to happen. >> of color. >> for the first time, and a female of color in america, you know, women have been waiting a long time to see representation at the highest levels of government, it may not be the president, but it's right below that and there is going to be -- it's going to be pretty remarkable to watch that. you know, i think that even women who are not supportive of this ticket would, you know, take the hat off to the notion of a woman being there.

>> and can i just -- can i just say for black women this has been really a proving moment for their political strength and carrying joe biden to the democratic nomination through the primary. black women did that. and i think seeing a black woman on the ticket with joe biden, on the cusp of this moment, i think is something that will go down in history because this has never happened before and not only would black women put joe biden in the white house, but they would also put a black woman in the white house as well and that is the sort of historical poetry that i think we will live with for a long time, in addition to the fact that donald trump's political career began with the racist birther lie, it may very well end with a black woman in the white house. >> well said. >> one of the things that i'm

really hoping for is i'm hoping that that space for that moment, for the united states and for the american people, should the election continue to go in the direction we believe it is, i hope that space is allowed to happen where people are allowed to come together and celebrate this achievement for the united states. i remember when nancy pelosi became the first female speaker of the house of representatives there was a republican congressman from florida named adam putnam who had four daughters and very conservative republican and he took the moment to acknowledge what a wonderful achievement it was that nancy pelosi became the speaker of the house, the first female, even though he disagreed with her on everything. i hope republicans have the same dignity and decency to allow the nation to come together to celebrate this achievement, but that of course depends quite a bit on what president trump does and what those around him do and whether or not republican leaders in congress are willing

to stand up and make the president smell the coffee. joe biden is now on the verge of winning the white house, just moments ago taking the lead in the great commonwealth of pennsylvania, we are expecting more votes soon from the keystone state, a state that has never earned that title more than this year. our special coverage continues. find your rhythm. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients

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when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo intronew advil dual action. the world of pain relief: advil targets pain at the source. acetaminophen blocks pain signals. new advil dual action with acetaminophen. pennsylvania, bide season now ahead by 5,587 votes, 49.4% to 49.3%. i'm here with john king. pamela brown is taking a closer look at where the outstanding votes in pennsylvania are right now. what are you learning? >> that's right. we're learning that we should be expecting more results throughout the morning and the day. when you look at pennsylvania overall taking a step back there are 163,000 mail-in ballots left to count. let's look closer into where those remaining ballots r we know philadelphia we just got a

big dump there around 30,000 ballots we're waiting for 25,000 left to count. i'm told by a source this batch could take a while, these ballots are take long for process. 10,000 damaged ballots need to be rescanned, that's part of what's going on there in philadelphia. but we have allegheny county which had a pause yesterday because of a legal issue, they are counting today. the home of pittsburgh, democratic leaning area of pennsylvania, 7,000 damaged ballots need evaluated that, that lengthens the process. bucks county a collar county right outside of philadelphia, 7,000 ballots left to count there, 2,000 affected ballots need evaluation. all of that of course plays into the count. but we are expecting these results soon and we should mention there are other counties that we are expecting results from, particularly right outside of philadelphia there are some of the biggest counties, i'm talking about montgomery and

other counties there. overall with outstanding beyond what i just laid out there from these counties is a if you hundred to a few thousand sand ballots we are waiting on. >> very interesting indeed. john king, we take a look at pennsylvania, we can't overemphasize how important the 20 electoral votes in pennsylvania are. >> it's the biggest state prize on the board as we come to this potentially decisive moment. 20 electoral votes, joe biden does not need them but this state would get him across the finish line to 273. president trump cannot be reelected, cannot get to 270 without this. joe biden 5,587 votes ahead, what pamela brown just told you is critical to understanding, yes, there are 130,000, 150,000 votes still out there. we know some of them are right here in philadelphia. votes will come in in in philadelphia, 95%, you see how deep blue this is, 81%. the president of the united states is trailing now. he needs about 53% of the

remaining votes to catch joe biden and to retake the lead in pennsylvania. so the president needs 53% of the votes, the votes are coming from places where joe biden is getting 80% or more of the vote. so the probability meter tells you that's not likely to happen. we will continue to count the votes. montgomery county, look, blue, 62%, 63% for joe biden, in the mail-in ballots. bucks county this one more competitive, this is a more conservative suburban county just outside of philadelphia, it is more competitive when you look at the total vote, but, again, as we have seen consistently even in republican counties joe biden when they count the mail-in votes that portion of the votes he is going up. so as these votes are counted, counted, already cast, legally cast in there by the deadline joe biden continues to go up. we're waiting for more votes allegheny county. what do your eyes tell you about allegheny county, blue, voting democratic by a lopsided margin

in the total vote, more so in the mail-in vote. 35,000 or so could be counted here. allegheny county surrounded by red, the president will get some votes. we've been looking for the last 24 hours as they count these mail-in ballots from county to county, even in the red county the president is winning, when they count the mail-in ballots joe biden is getting 60%, 70%, in many counties 80% of the vote even in republican counts because democrats chose to vote by mail. erie county, northwestern pennsylvania, blue collar battleground it's very competitive, but, again, when erie county votes came in last night, this county was red yesterday, when they mounted the mail-in ballots joe biden getting upwards of 70%, closer to 80% or more. there are still ballots to count and sometimes you get a change in the trajectory but as you look as you come through, 5,587 votes the president at one point had a lead of more than 600,000

votes in this state because they counted the election day totals first, people who voted on election day, now they're counting the mail-in ballots and getting closer to the finish line and the trajectory here is clear and convincing and when you pull it out and put it into context, pennsylvania moments ago, georgia just as the sun came up, two states the president was leading in yesterday, as they count the mail-in ballots, they have flipped. donald trump cannot win reelection without both pennsylvania and georgia. they are both blue and just to button it up joe biden also still leads, they're counting in arizona still, counting in nevada still. joe biden that would get him to 273 if he wins here, there and that would get him to 306. 270 is all you need to win. >> 306 was what the president won four years ago, that put him over the top, 306 electoral votes. it was fascinating when we got that $31,412 -- 31,412 batch of votes from philadelphia a little

while ago, 87%, 27,396 went to biden -- >> let's just do it again. >> it was -- >> just so people can see as these counties come in. >> biden got 27,396, trump got approximate 3,706. biden got 87% of the 31,412 vote count that came in from philadelphia and that's not extraordinary. we've been seeing that in other counties as well. >> over and over and over again. because democrats chose to vote by mail. disproportionately. that's the way it worked. the president deserves all the credit in the world for his voter turnout. doesn't want to go. we're stuck right there. the president deserves all the credit in the world for his turnout in the commonwealth of pennsylvania, he exceeded his

vote total from four years ago, but joe biden -- again, the president needs 53% of the vote to come back in pennsylvania. we are seeing this not just in philadelphia, not just in democratic strong holds, democrats voted by mail in this election, that was their choice because of covid safety precautions and the like, that's what is being counted. the rest of the election day vote was counted on election day and into the wee hours of wednesday morning. they've counted the early vote, everything left in pennsylvania was mail-in ballots, that was a disproportionately democratic vote. this is philadelphia, you expect it to be democratic, but that's not the only place we are seeing t we are seeing it across the commonwealth of pennsylvania even in red counties that is what is happening. just to emphasize this point, this in the end is about math. this in the end is about math. joe biden is at 253. we had no changing yesterday because these states were counting their mail-in ballots. so this is how we started the day yesterday, we were waiting, these states are taking their time, frustrating to people who have a stake in the game, democrats want this over with,

republicans were leading yesterday. you count every last vote. as we count them, one, two, that happened overnight, those changes. that alone would get joe biden to 289. the president has narrowed the lead some here in but joe biden still leads and joe biden still leads. we have some vote counting to do out here, that's not done, but that is the possibility for joe biden right now as we go through this, the president is leading it's not a done deal here, either, but the president is leading in maine, second congressional district, that's one because maine allocates electoral college votes by congressional district. the president is leading here, the president is expected to win here in alaska as they count the votes. if you look at this right now that is the mirror image, if you will, of four years ago when donald trump had 306 and hillary clinton had 232. that's the potential, we are not done yet. the key point, wolf, the president cannot win, he needs these two to win and in the recent hours first in georgia, now in pennsylvania, joe biden has passed the president and every indication we have is that those leads in georgia and pennsylvania will grow as they

count more ballots. >> that's absolutely true. we're standing by for more vote counts from pennsylvania where joe biden is now leading and on the verge of victory in this truly historic election. our special coverage continues right after this. hope is the light in all of us that cannot be extinguished. to stir that fire, university of phoenix is awarding up to one million dollars in scholarships through this month. see what scholarship you qualify for at phoenix.edu. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. call coventry direct to learn more. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. our friends sold their policy to

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extraordinary moment in american history right now, joe biden is in the lead in pennsylvania. there are still more than 100,000 votes to be counted, but biden has the lead there with some 5,000 -- more than 5,000 votes at this point and, as i

said, more than 100,000 votes still to be counted. let's take a look across the country, pennsylvania 5,587, in georgia, 1,097 vote lead of biden in the lead there, we have been watching both georgia, nevada, arizona, pennsylvania of course now for the last 24 hours, nevada bide season in the lead with 11,438. it's a remarkable moment really for the biden campaign, for kamala harris, for joe biden. this has been long sought, he has run for president numerous times to come this far at this stage. >> incredible in so many ways. you know, when i was a kid reporter just starting out covering politics joe biden was newly elected to the senate, he was the youngest member of the senate, and he was already being heralded as a future president. that was 47 years ago. >> wow. >> he tried twice, he didn't

make it, but this was his time because, you know, the moment means everything. joe biden was the right candidate at this moment because he is the antithesis of donald trump and generally americans look for the remedy to what they have. even if they like the president, when they make a change they look for the remedy and when you think about biden and the way he ran and the qualities that he has, he ran as a uniter, he ran as someone who could work across party lines, you know, he touted his experience at a time when people are feeling the need for that. he's an institutionalist. i can tell you having served with him in the white house he has great reverence for these institutions of the democracy and of course he has this palpable sense of empathy that's born of his own tragedy and struggle and loss, and at a time when the country is feeling that and when we have a president who

frankly does not display those qualities, that worked very well for joe biden here in this race. so, yeah, it's remarkable. i don't think that he probably thought when he walked out of the white house in 2017 for the last time that he would walk back in as president of the united states in 2021, but it appears that's what's going to happen. >> we anticipate that he will be speaking at some point today. >> he will. and you think of joe biden, as david is saying, you know, he first in 1988 as you are saying, everybody thought he should be president except maybe joe biden, now acknowledges maybe he wasn't ready to be president, and in 2008 he ran into someone named barack obama, didn't do so well, and now at the age of 77, november 20th is his birthday, he's going to turn 78, his son and soulmate beau biden spoke

with him before he died and said, you know, you have to find a purpose. make sure. he was worried about his father, he told that to todd conklin, biden's friend, i'm worried what my father is going to do if i die or when i die, and i think that's part of the thing that's driving joe biden this time, that he found his purpose. >> purpose. >> and he said to me and others that it happened after charlottesville, that he had no intention of running whatsoever for the presidency again, but he saw president trump's reaction to charlottesville, fine people on both sides, and decided that he had to get back into the arena. that's what drove him. and it turned out that as david is saying the temperament that joe biden has that is the opposite of donald trump -- i asked him, are you the polar opposite of donald trump and he crossed him said and he said i

sure hope so. and that is it. >> heroes are hard to come by. heroes are hard to come by and he's stepping up i think to play a heroic role as a leader, as a healer. it's not his policy agenda that i think is most present in people's minds, it's just his person. it's who he is. we lost john lewis, again, heroes are hard to come by, and there is just some beauty in the fact that it was in john lewis' district that they goth knows last votes, i believe, to get across the finish line. i heard people talk about that earlier today. you know, people across the country i think are still wary, this has not been called, but there is a little bit of joy starting to come in, a little bit of joy, a little bit of relief and i think, you know, people inspired by people like john lewis where they talked about black voters matter, all these different groups have been doing all this great work, i think feel good today. also jim clyburn, let's not forget, i was one of the people -- i said, you know, i

don't see biden getting there, i was making jokes about him, he went from a joke to a juggernaut and part of how that happened was because jim clyburn stood up and said this is the guy america needs and african-americans rallied behind jim clyburn and rallied behind that cause and african-americans i think had a great deal of pride to have the wisdom and judgment to pick someone like him and put him in the position he's in. >> it's also easy given the drama that's escalating to overlook and not kind of just remark on this moment for -- about kamala harris as the first woman, the first person of color to be -- >> who i have known forever. kamala harris if we can just do a little bit of -- when i was in the bay area kamala harris took on a local legend as district attorney, terrence halihan, he

had come out the wrong way on facebook issues and it opened the door for kamala harris to come in. she knocked his -- he lost and she was a force and she was young enough to relate to the young people, you had, you know, some of the local activists who had never had a relationship with the da's office at all except negative, she brought them in, latifa simon and others and empowered them and began to come up with programs and creativity. then she goes on and runs for statewide office in california as a woman of color the right wing came after her. she was frustrated. i said, kamala, they have to bury you here in california or you're going to be in the white house. she said, no, no. i said, kamala, they have to bury you or you will be in the white house and she's about to be in the white house. >> it only took 243 years for a woman to become vice president. never mind a woman of color as

abby so he go currently was talking about just a few moments ago. it's quite a moment. >> not just any vice president, she is a uniquely -- she is in a unique position, not just because she is the first woman, not just because she is the first south asian and black american to be the vice president, but because she is -- she's serving a president who, as you pointed out, is going to be 78 years old and she may be the candidate for president. joe biden may run again, he hasn't said he isn't, but people are going to be looking at her as not just as the vice president, but as a potential president, perhaps the front runner if the president -- if biden is president and decides not to run. so this has never happened before where a vice president takes office and is right in the middle of the next election picture. >> so how much do you think it matters that joe biden has been

vice president and an active vice president with president obama and how that might inform how he looks to kamala harris? >> listen, first of all, i've said this many, many times. he was in my view one of the great vice presidents of all time because he was impeccably loyal in public and he was -- he was unstintingly honest in private and he gave the president his best advice, he spoke out, he made his views known, he helped inform decisions and i would think he would want that same kind of partnership. he would want her input and he would want her involvement. i don't think he's -- he asked her to join him as a partner just in the campaign. >> except the difference this time, of course, is that biden has so much more experience and longevity in government, whereas with barack obama it was sort of the new kid in town. but i think he will probably do what obama did for him, which is

give big assignments, maybe it's justice reform, maybe it's be my partner in covid, but, you know, obama put biden right away economic recovery, >> i worked for biden on that task force, and the thing about biden, he would talk about -- you know, why was he talking so much? he was really trying to put in each of us the passion he had for regular people. >> yeah. >> he wanted -- he didn't want us just to do the job. he wanted us to do the job for the right reason. you would say, i want to go, but it would get in you and you would have that passion. >> got to run? >> no. >> when we were -- when we were in the discussions the early part of the financial crisis. there's a lot of concern, wall street was going to collapse, and his -- he always took the

roll. what about the guys who were losing their homes and the gals who were losing their homes, and what about the people losing their jobs, what are we going to do for them? >> let's take a quick break. joe biden leading in pennsylvania, closer to winning the white house. more votes from the keystone state are coming in. our special coverage continues next. don't worry, julie...

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democratic presidential nominee joe biden is on the cusp of possibly being declared the next president of the united states. part of the trump era has been marked by the president's relationship with right wing maga media, especially his favorite cable channel fox we

bring in brian stelter right now with breaking news about the decisions being made at fox about the fact that there is no credible evidence of widespread fraud and it looks as though joe biden is about to become the president-elect. brian, what are you learning? >> two memos obtained by cnn from three sources all around fox news say when joe biden reaches the point when he crosses the threshold of 270, fox will not identify him as president-elect. other "newsroom"s are weorking through this, and president-elect is the language that would be used. however the memos at fox news say they'll stay away. they avoid talk shows to stay away from president-elect because of the president's legal challenge. fox is taking the challenges seriously, showing deference to the president after 25,000 false and misleading claims from the president, fox still assumes he's telling the truth,

promoting voter fraud innuendo, and treating these long-shot lawsuits like they are serious pursuits. fox's coverage influences tens of millions of people, who are ultimately misled, including the most important viewer of all, the president of the united states. >> brian, just to clarify, they do anticipate that they will call one of these states that we're watching, pennsylvania, arizona, georgia, nevada and they will project 270 electoral votes at least for joe biden, they just won't call him president-elect because of these rather frivolous lawsuits? >> because of the frivolous lawsuits that's right. that's the guidance given out to the top anchors, the top people at the channel. it's striking guidance. it gets to the broader issue of how fox is misinforming the public. the fox decision desk is well

regarded in this industry, having the same standards as cnn and all the broadcast networks has, but the opinion hosts are showing deference to these toothless lawsuit threats. you said earlier, the ruperts are ultimately responsible for what's on the network in the coming hours. one member of the family agreed earlier with what you said on fox saying she agrees the murdochs have to show responsibility in the moment. >> it's so odd because there is no credible evidence of widespread fraud. none. so if you are a fox reporter or anchor, somebody not on the opinion side and you're going to abide by this crazy instruction, you might as well hand in your press credential at the same time because you can't be taken seriously as a journalist.

>> fox is acting as an arm of the trump campaign. and trump is treating fox as an arm of the campaign. they've been on the phone all week haranguing people at fox about the arizona call that jim acosta said, they're furious about. the trump campaign wants fox to get in line, and it sounds like, based on brian's reporting, they are getting in line. >> i think you're right, abby. i wonder if this memo had gone out had the president and his family members and aides not completely freaked out on fox for calling arizona. from everything i'm hearing and we're seeing it on the air, there is a -- despite what some commentators have said on the air, the reporters have galvanized behind that call saying they feel confident in it. and sounds like they're bowing to pressure from the president.

no other way to put it. >> the counting continues in the four outstanding battleground states. let's go to wolf blitzer for more on that. >> another dramatic key race alert. in pennsylvania with its 20 electoral votes, biden's lead over trump is increasing. it's up to 6,737 votes ahead of trump, 49.4% to 49.3%. 95% of the estimated vote in pennsylvania is in. but biden's lead is increasing. let's walk over to john king at the magic wall. we just got -- you want to write this down john -- numbers from bucks county in pennsylvania -- >> let me bring it up for you as we do. >> these are the specific numbers why the increase in biden's lead over trump right now. talking about bucks county in pennsylvania. 2949 votes -- don't write it down yet -- of that nearly 3,000 vote that just