welcome back to nbc news coverage of decision 2020. it is 4:00 a.m., if you are sticking with us, thank you. get i caught up on what we projected here. this is the map that we are looking at, at this moment. take a look at some of the individual states, beginning with pennsylvania, this is the

one that we are waiting on it. it could be days, too early to call. at this point, georgia, very close at this point. 92% of the vote in. too close to call. north carolina, too close to call, a pivotal state, it could matter for either candidate. michigan, too early to count. waiting for votes there. vice president biden with a lead, too early to call at this hour. wisconsin, very close there as well. a critical northern state. too early to call. and in maine, too early to call. vice president biden with the lead there. hawaii, it is too early to call. not enough votes to call.

we let some of our folks go. lester, savannah, chuck, getting sleep. holly jackson getting some sleep. we will bring in monica. talk for those who weren't with us, what the president said, what you are hearing from white house officials now. >> well, we will wait on her, she is not ready yet. over to biden headquarters, ali, at headquarters with us in delaware. it feels like -- we lost her aumpts bear with us, folks, we are trying to get our correspondents up. we don't have anybody at this hour. how about rich?

sell he with us? all right. we are having trouble getting folks organized at this hour, we apologize for that talk about where we stand. you heard lester, if you were with us this race is simply too close, right now to really call. it is a race where we await millions of votes cast. states all over the country, some have gone to bed, will resume in the morning. pennsylvania has three days to count votes that came in. as long as the mail-in ballots came in on time, they will count them. show which states we are waiting on. it is a lot. despite what the president said at the white house. we are looking at tex awe can call for the president.

the projected winner of texas is president trump. florida, we called for president trump, ohio, we have called for president trump. we projected that he wins ohio. and minnesota, the projected winner there is vice president biden. in nebraska. we projected the winner, president trump, nebraska splits the electoral college votes, we are waiting for that to work out. at this point, state-wide we project for president trump. too close to call, or too early to call at this point. we will go to arizona now. one of those statemes we are waiting for.

vaughan, what are you hearing, seeing? >> still, you see joe biden with a seven-point edge over donald trump. the initial results are striking. a joe biden victory here, particularly because of the suburbs around phoenix and tucson. what we are waiting for. nbc news has not called this race. we are still waiting for hundreds of thousands of ballots to still be counted. tonight, this morning, wherever we are right now, we are expecting about 130,000 ballots from here to be entered into the system here. here is the other out liar. what we are waiting on is a number we don't know right now. the number of folks that today, on election day, hand delivered their ballots to polling locations.

election officials tell me they will tell us what that is. the trump campaign is banking on that being high. the early ballots being returned leaned heavily toward returns republicans voted a 2-1 margin over democrats that is where the trump campaign is saying, hold on a second. with hundreds of thousands of ballots out, we have a chance to close the gap. when you take into account the rule parts, there is the opportunity. this campaign president trump spent last week in bull head city. that he won four years ago. voters that didn't vote in 2016. came out to support him.

the question is, can they narrow the eight-point gap. arizona is important. 11 electoral votes on the line, a situation in which joe biden pulls off michigan, wisconsin, and nebraska's one congressional district there. arizona would clinch it, and joe biden couldn't need pennsylvania that is how important it is. we have a lot of life in that 78. he was saying about other states, we have already won, he was incorrectly saying. arizona, important to the trump campaign at this hour. >> this has been a long time republican, from goldwater to john mccain. when you are talking about the political map here in arizona, this is interestingly, the state

that could be the one to defy what the republican party has become under donald trump. he ran ads, cindy mccain. for biden campaign. looking at the way donald trump handled arizona, and the way he treated the late senator mccain, it calls into question, the republican party's efforts, if it weren't for the state of arizona right now, all eyes could be on the state of pennsylvania. instead, because arizona is in play because of the democrats, they were able to this evening. >> thank you so much. we will bring in the correspondent. thank you for staying with us. what was it about an hour ago,

from the president, not unexpected to say what he did. really, the map is still anyone's game. >> the map is definitely anyone's game. president trump has not won a number of the states he claimed he would have won, georgia, north carolina, the president was taking issue with the fact that arizona had been called for joe biden by the ap -- another network. the president is saying he won the elec, and wants all voting to stop. he wants to go to the supreme court. if this was happening in another country, we would be looking at it, saying there is a political crisis. we haven't seen anything like this in u.s. history.

in 2016, 1976, 1968. we had elections, we didn't know at the stroke of midnight who won the election. the president is insignuating that democrats are trying to steal the election. there are people alattered and disturbed by this the former new jersey governor said he got into a bad political strategy. that is important. he is someone that worked on the president's transition, helped the president prep for debates there. are republicans who support the president saying this is a step too far. we have seen the president say things and walk it back. the vice president had a different tone. he said he expects to win the election, not claiming victory. president trump he believes he has won the election, and there will be counting going on. a lot of votes still to be counted.

>> he is all about the message. he likes to speak to his people. speak to his crowd. it seemed to me, that is what he was doing at the white house. trying to telegraph a hopeful message he would like to be true. >> i was talking to people close to president trump today, one of the things he said, president trump seems leadership as optimism. including misinformation if he is not telling the trumpth he likes to try to make it seem like he is in a good place. happening now with the election, he believes he can win states that have not been called yet. the president did this with the coronavirus. killed 230,000 americans, the president's closing message at

all the rallies is that covid isn't that bad, people shouldn't be worried about it. he is trying to telegravel to supporters, he is doing well, and excited about the fact that election is continuing, he already won the election. apart from the messaging and the rhetoric, there is the democracy part of this. america is built on the idea that our elections are free sxch fair. we can everybody believes thereat election is done in the right way. the president is trying to dele jit myself them, that is a problem. >> trying to go to you before monica. are you there? >> good morning. >> 4:00 a.m., the president must be asleep by this time. any sense for what is on his

agenda in the coming hours? >> this is a president that stays up late and likes to monitor and watch a lot of coverage, particularly on a night like tonight. i can see in the residence, i am in front of the west wing, they are still on. it is possible he is keeping an eye on what we have seen here tonight. we have some insight as to what he will be doing later today. nothing on his public schedule. that is subject to change. we weren't sure when we would hear from him tonight, until an hour before he spoke in the east room. the timeline itself was notable. just after vice president joe biden delivered his remarks in wilmington, delaware, he delivered a tweet in six hours, some of the returns rolled in. seemingly, the president wanted

to go out and make his own splash with controversial remarks, declaring victory, when we know there are millions of ballots that need to be cast. we look ahead at what comes next, the president seemingly saying he will follow through with a strategic that he previewed, to go in with his lawyers, the republican national committee has been preparing lawsuits in many of the key battle ground states, in key states like pennsylvania, what they see as a proprakted legal battle. we aren't sure when we will hear from him next. next on the twit terfeed as he continues to see what is developing, we may see him do media interviews. 24 hours ago, he did a lengthy interview with fox and friends. it was striking tonight, when the president came out and spoke

in the east room, he gathered 200, to 250 of his closest friends, trump family members, campaign official fist, all of them huddled closely together, despite the pandemic, event, indoors, given given the backdrop, we were told they were supposedly tested before coming into the white house grounds. that is something the white house told us, to that rose gard en that turned into a super spreader event. it blurs the lines between official white house business and activities that we have become accustomed to at the

white house, kate. >> we'll let you know when we hear more. >> more coverage ahead, stay are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks? now they can! downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh way longer than detergent alone. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry. with 6 times the freshness ingredients, downy unstopables gives you more of what you love. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. nature made helps you win the night. our extended release melatonin helps you fall asleep and stay asleep. nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand.

laso you can enjoy it even ifst you're sensitive. se. nature made. yet some say it isn't real milk. i guess those cows must actually be big dogs. sit! i said sit! that's why i take osteo bi-flex, to keep me moving the way i was made to. it nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long term. while helping with occasional joint stiffness. osteo bi-flex.

>> i want to bring in rich, the

editor of the review. t what is the strategic as you see it? . i think the president is trying to undermine the result. no president of the united states should ever do. wants to have a fail safe if he loses. where he was treated unfairly and cheated. i am not sure if that is the strategy. you saw the tension after the president's statement. mike pence came up to the microphone and stated it in more conventional terms. the president said, as far as i am concerned, i one. mike pence said we are on the path to victory. in terms of legal strategy. in the litigation phase. both will file lawsuits to protect their interests. the president said he can go to the supreme court and stop the counting of the ballots is bonkers is not going to happen.

>> what are you hearing from other republicans. >> you may have senators ducking and covers. trump may wake up later this morning and pull back a bit. you know, on some media interviews, but the basic narrative he wants out there is that other side is trying to cheat. >> thanks for being with us. we will take a break, and we will be back with our decision we've made a lot of breakfasts. and along the way, we noticed something was missing. a warm cinnamon roll for breakfast, or with breakfast. a fluffy blueberry muffin, from the drive thru

you're already driving through. a glazed apple fritter, which might find its way into your coffee. these are options every breakfast-haver should have, and now... they do. meet the new bakery sweets at mcdonald's ♪ ba da ba ba ba vicks vapopatch. easy to wear with soothing vicks vapors for her, for you, for the whole family. trusted soothing vapors, from vicks from america's number one serum brand. five times more retinol than the no1 retinol serum. yet formulated to be gentle on your skin. new no7 advanced retinol night concentrate. try nature's bounty hair, skin and nails gummies. the number one brand to support beautiful hair, glowing skin, and healthy nails.

and try advanced, now with two times more biotin. and try advanced, each febreze car vent clip gives you up to 30 days of fresh air. so, you can have open window freshness... even with all the windows up. enjoy fresh, any time, with febreze. g...i can file and manage myss claim, all on the geico app. it's not just easy. it's giving-your-dog -your-fitness-tracker easy. oh, good boy. yes, you got it! woo! already got my 40,000 steps today... can i get a what what! no pain, no gain! haha... it's geico easy. with fast and convenient claims service. look how fast i'm running! good boy, chester.

welcome back to nbc news decision 2020 coverage, i am kate snow, a big day ahead of us. potentially, several days ahead of us, of legal battles, we go to nate, thank you for sticking with us. when you think about what will happen first, what would be the first. i heard you say earlier, we have to get the votes counted first. is that easy to do in the climate we are in? >> there is a process that will be followed. i think that we have to trust the process.

that there is an administrative process and a legal process. >> do you suspect there will be challenges as soon as this morning, i would say? >> challenges already filed. we have two lawsuits already in pennsylvania, one in montgomery county, one at the state level, directs at absentee ballot. we should be clear-eyed about this. there is no switch at the supreme court that can be flicked on to stop a vote count. all of the votes are going to be counted. if there are disputes, there is a legal process that will be followed. that is what we will be seeing in the coming days. it depends on how close the margin in. after the count of the votes as he has right now. in which case, it wouldn't go any further. if the vice president biden

overtakes it, it is within the margin of litigation. >> 60 seconds left before break. there are state that is do things differently. there are a patch work of different rules depends on where are you? >> yes, that is true. with respect to absentee ballot. north carolina is still receiving absentee ballots, as is north carolina, for the next three days, they are different from michigan or wisconsin, that have to receive them on election day. we are in for a few days of uncertainty. there is a process that needs to be followed. about who won this election. >> thank you for staying up all night with us. we will take a break and be back in a minute.

we are back with nbc news, decision 2020, 4:30 a.m., we are still with you because this presidential race is yet to be decided. you can see why we have a long way to go. on the road to 270, right now, vice president biden with 220,