in the world's richest country. around america the democrats put one foot in the door of the white house after 3 tense days joe biden looks set to become at the moment the 46th u.s. president as king states in the edge closer to announcing their results mean what. you count the legal votes easily when the count is truly show me the person i would be declared the winner listening to that it could still be a bumpy road ahead. in the republican. fraudulent the delay to announcing the president does raise questions too about the vote itself especially mail in ballots. we hear from commentators on the key issues

. they want to stop the. show every night. when i watch the big board our system is the work we also see that in the united states constitution is never mentioned at all. but i welcome to washington national this friday evening and our coverage of the u.s. election we're counting in key states continues. now the contests for the white house. in the coming hours with democrat joe biden

looking ever more likely to be declared the winner however a recount has been announced in the state of georgia leaving america on tenterhooks attention is focused on a handful of states at the moment and we are still waiting for crucial results in the via the pennsylvania to where the democrats hold a very slender lead well as it stands this is how it looks joe biden has 264 lex's if you include arizona which some do say is too early to call that issue he's won it he is 6 electoral votes short of the $270.00 required for victory donald trump on the other hand currently stands on $214.00 but that said it remains a very tight race gaps of being closed in different battleground states over night in pennsylvania and nevada the former vice president is leading by less than one percent and in georgia biden has taken the lead by just over a 1000 votes with 99 percent of the ballots counted now as mentioned the margins

are so tight that a recount will take place incidentally a democrat hasn't won that state in decades meanwhile the race in north carolina is too close to call at the moment to say what does all of this mean well from his chances of staying in the white house is for a fading fast he has to win for the battleground states excluding arizona which has been given to biden by some media outlets however the former vice president only needs one more swing state for victory said could be plenty of legal battles to follow the republican national committee is readying its legal teams in a number of pivotal states they've stated that alleged voting irregularities will be fully investigated as both candidates continue to clash over the ballots. if you count the legal votes i easily win if you count the illegal votes they can try to steal. the election from osip in america voters sacred.

it's how people of this nation express their will. and it is the real will of the voters no one not anything else but chooses the president of united states of america this tremendous litigation going on and this is a case where they're trying to steal an election they're trying to rig an election each ballot must be counted. and that's what we're going to see going through now and that's how it should be our goal is to defend the integrity of the election will not allow the corruption to steal such an important election or any election for that matter it's a corrupt system and it makes people corrupt even if they aren't. senior correspondent rick astley have to discuss the tension in the country at the moment with our. big u.s. really does pride itself on its democratic system does not now appear to have

glitches with everything that's going on i would say at this point more of a spectacle i mean the elections in the united states the there are always something of a shoe for the entire nation but this this year in particular they seem to have outdone themselves you know it's turned into this. moony is dirty slaw go to market see sometimes messy sometimes requires a little patience as well but that patience has been rewarded now for more than 240 years in the system of government governance the envy of the world well the envy of the world perhaps in days long gone now with endless government shutdowns all the political violence the bureaucracy partisanship the polarization division health care system and pandemic response that has frankly been a worldwide embarrassment i wouldn't say perhaps in view of the world is is the

right phrase if you're in the united states you just a citizen wanting to exercise your constitutional right to vote what you show up at the polling station and they'll turn you right around and tell you to go and register 1st except you have to register 2 to 4 weeks in advance depending on the state you know different procedures everywhere and to register you have a say you have to have a special id card which not everyone has so far ok you will well prepared you did it you you went and registered next you've you've got to get time off work either that because in the united states whereas in europe it is always inside everyone's free everyone who vote in the. united states sundays a jewish holiday and they would make it a national holiday booting day so you have to go wednesday for example you have to ask your boss for some time off work which you may not hear now there's a pandemic it is dangerous it is literally dangerous to good sound and huge lines

of people with a very little social distancing you mail you a book you mail you a vote as democrats have been urging their supporters to do you mail your vote and it's lost 150000 votes have been confirmed sue for are lost in this election and they're still counting the there's potentially tens and tens of thousands more in an election as clues as this where every vote matters they've lost so many already ok that let's just let's just presume everything's going fine you came prepared you registered early you got and lied when you said your vote didn't get lost now you're president is saying that you've moved this potentially for delon democrat officials never believe they could win this election honestly i really believe that that's why they did the mail in ballots with this tremendous corruption and fraud going on that's why they mailed out tens of millions of

unsolicited bella's they refuse to include any requirement to verify signatures i get is or even determine whether they're eligible or. it is a nation divided more now than it has been in living memory the level of poor arise ation and division political division in the united states is is tearing the country apart and it isn't doing anyone any favors everybody understands what is happening in america but there is very little you know that nobody's willing to go take the extra step to understand the other side everybody wants things down their way and and that this is being with repeated across the country protests violence political violence to level to get beaten. stabbed because of the color of the had that you work with slogan a new t. shirt and this is this is being seen worldwide that nobody's envious of these in europe they're saying look we simply can't afford and can't allow europe to become

as divided as polarized as the united states of america should be a warning for europe we are successful because we preach differences between countries and peoples so we benefit together if we lose the ability to compromise our democracies are in danger was opening in america does not quite correspond to the democratic culture we know from the united states it's important the result is the accepted by everyone it's easy to be a winner but sometimes it's hard to be a loser at the end of the day the how close this election is how close the vote is well that both candidates a lot of leeway both are claiming that they're on the part of victory that they're winning but will be contested lawsuits of fire being fired off like firecrackers by trump especially the this election will be condensed and trauma myself and said that you know this is a lonely and in supreme court despite the warning of the legal action there several

election commissions in america actually insisted that every valid vote was counted and accurately reported international observers have also said that the ballot proceeded lawfully they have slammed on trump's allegations of fraud saying it damages public trust in democratic institutions the rights lawyer can believe the president will fight tooth and nail to stay in the oval office. i think it's there are advantages and disadvantages to a extended legal. battle if you will i think that yes if the matter is not resolved by inauguration day that seems to be to create a constitutional crisis in the united states however if the supreme court is quite aware of when in operation today they said they're briefing schedules they will eventually irrigates that will. and will issue the appropriate orders but donald trump is fighting for his life he knows he's going to be prosecuted criminally when

he's released from the presidency and if not he wants to stay on this is very personal to him however the supreme court can hear the matter and hear in a quick way but i wouldn't be surprised if they want to throw that kind of curveball into it and make everyone have to hold their breath and be plugged into the drama into january but i suspect that the matter moved much quicker and i believe that it will have the president elect the account has been particularly complicated in this contest and it has thrown up to many contentious issues the america discussed something. i. look at what the prison is doing legally the places they're trying to intercede and

serve and so if they want to stop the county other states want to continue tell me to get a concrete standard for that and as well as after show be read holder in 2014 who had alluded voting rights we need to end the ministries records of who the president is authorized to make things that the 5 border guards at the have national standards only legends we cover republicans are fighting against that since they like these and that what i was saying that metastasized into this year's election now i don't know what about that why don't we have one uniform federal law that says when you're voting for president maybe put it on a separate take it i'm not sure how this will work but why don't we have one federal law for that the question is what you're asking is a great question there's a better question to which i think transcends that why is it in the year 2020 when we can map of the genome we still have this archaic system which i think speaks to something which is which makes it right and right if for any kind of shenanigans we

know so much about how the votes can be stolen we had terrible days of poll taxes and literacy tests and our system of voting is the worst but we also say that in the united states constitution voting is never mentioned at all there's hardly anything new selectors and that sort of thing they never got around to it so the question we have to ask is how is that right now that we see that we have something as archaic and as stupid as it. seems i think is really it's gotten him if this is not the donald trump that we're used to this is not the same fire and brimstone have bob how do you take it down to one degree. if it will say it was embarrassing it was the sad final chapter to a set chapter in american history that's something you'll hear. on an internet war ready we're looking it's a choice you want broken to beat him cards that almost everything you said in that speech was a lot it's all those little moments you find yourself getting angry

a bit of the. whole call understanding that there is no pair. would you want joe biden to drive you home from the airport let me just talk about something right now where you put all this is side this is this says either something about is good or bad when we have a man but i'm not even sure knows where he is and he is most probably what we see is correct going to be sworn in as the president and i further predict since since we are predicting he will serve one term shorter than william henry harrison of $31.00 days when kamel harris will be removed immediately something will happen joel will maybe perhaps that aneurism god forbid something will pop up maybe coded maybe 8 maybe senescence but he will be moved because if you think of anybody thinks that joe biden is going to be if he is the he is the intended get it and you

think that well my friends happy birthday cause you were born yesterday robert can you respond to that do you think that there is a likely i've heard from a lot of people on both sides who they all seem to believe that biden will not serve his entire 1st term and i hear from democrats who say that the time with me i hear from republicans who say it would be a scandal but i've heard very few people disagree with that idea do you disagree with. of course i disagree with that idea or still by the term i think it's important that he does because he's a throwback to the era oh thanks but we were not go pretty in a 51 to 49 country where we were we have bipartisan agreement we did the big thing to big big projects of that nature we put people on the moon to one cold war we've liberated oh there were western civilization that's what america used to do when we worked across party lines.

this is a sham the fix is in the fix he's been in from the beginning all these states you know just going around the voter and changing the voting rules claiming that it's because of coded setting up the scenario where you think they can't finish counting the votes in georgia or north carolina or whatever they're just they're just waiting they're coordinating with the biden people and they're just waiting to see how they're going to do this we all know it's a joke every night after night after that they sit there and i watch the big boards you know whether it's on c.n.n. or wherever it is and guess why the numbers more votes have come in in this state more votes have come in in that state and guess what biden picked up folks trump's lead is evaporating without a surprise this is really a travesty what you guys say is the actual role of the press in these elections i mean aren't we supposed to be the observers of the process because these days it does seem like the media wields so much power that it could actually steer perception steer the public's and ultimately steer the election itself.

yeah absolutely you know we're supposed to be in the media the observer the impartial observer we're not supposed to be influenced or in this case we've moved even past that to become the decider in fact i were in the arena is full combatants this is something almost unique to the presidency i mean the uncomfortable position of being a member trump or somebody who thinks the president should be defeated hope so. used a few did and yet find themselves very sympathetic to the president when he complains about the media because steve is right my friends see it was right the president has got an unfair shake from this media and i think it's all people out there like me who don't think good president but we hate it that we have to defend the guy against an unfair media. wrangling over the presidential election has overshadowed another heated race in the country at the moment because both parties are still grappling for seats in congress in the days ahead of the democrats did spend large

sums of money campaigning in a bid to win more influence in the house and offset the senate that has not happened it seems the house is expected to stay in the hands of the democrats with results still coming in however some experts are calculating the blue majority will actually be thinner this year and so far they are down by least 6 incumbents $218.00 seats needed to win a majority and so far the democrats are on 280 here and the republicans have $193.00 now there's also the tussle for the senate 2 democrats do need to gain 4 seats to flip control of the upper house although that son likely as the republicans already have 48 seats and have been leading in 3 of the remaining 4 races to get 50 so that is the race for seats in congress meanwhile in the presidential race the blue wave that many were predicting has failed to materialize even though joe biden is on course for victory at this stage the contest has been

much closer than polls were forecasting election integrity activist and independent journalist nico house told us what. that stayed with unfortunately prior to the general election because well the candies that i thought could be trumped which would include also gabbert bernie sanders and i would even argue andrew yang those aren't the ones who are allowed to go up against in the moment that they selected one of the male democrat in joe biden who's basically been by our standards a republican who is pro fact fracking just like trump who can be a little bit more hawkish on foreign policy than trump then you are setting the stage for walk a fine will go wall have to pull in support base awful party lines because that's seemingly where at least the democrats are demanding we vote on and that it's by extension you want to have republicans of course staying loyal in most cases to donald trump. mind then all of the numbers in this presidential race democratic

nominee joe biden has 264 electoral votes leaving him just 6 short of the presidency. has 214 didn't currently has a narrative in the traditionally red states of georgia and he's also slightly ahead in the father and has just gone in front in pennsylvania as well. i. france's apparently widened its crackdown on terror in the wake of a series of deadly attacks across the country it is now clamping down on the u.c. welcome acts of terrorism even children in ma say a 14 year old afghan boy has been charged over remarks he made about the killing of

school teacher samuel passy who was beheaded by an 18 year old was not tell you but he was. to show. in cartoons of the prophet mohammed in a class on free speech the teenager who commented on his death has been released but will remain under so-called supervision is being demanded by prosecutors that he also be banned from school and from communicating with other students or teachers or there have been an increasing number of inquiries opened into young people the latest probe still involves some children as young as 8 and many are under suspicion for interrupting a minute's silence that was held in memory of teacher samuel patty for allegedly saying his death was deserved in the wake of the tragedy over 60 similar investigations have been opened into supporting terror the questioning often involves young people aged 12 to 16 who have used extremely repugnant language inspired by the group which is very worrying ok let's get the views now of

sharm lu he's a paris based lawyer and author john walker lindh is joining us again he's a french lecturer in history you both very welcome thanks for your time this evening if i can start with you what are your thoughts on this i mean these children have said some very very shocking things but is it right to put children as young as 8 years old under supervision by prosecutors. for having me are let me let me 1st start by you remind the reminding you of. the french law under french law the facts are that if you make enough apologies are. to do it curious crime is an act it's a crime it's punishable by it but. only law and you can be prosecuted for that if you ever comment. in favor of an act of terror of of an act of

provocation to a terror you are such me that and the you are submit to this law so this is not in france indifference law this is not their freedom of speech but because of the freedom of speech has its restrictions everywhere so if you give economy. neighboring india. to talk to you can be prosecuted by the way the police and when the prosecutor in these cases has been children and know you well you should understand that in france even if children are prosecuted they are now going to jane you have to pull in 14 and 15 years old who has. the fear of it interrupt will be happy but i suppose the question though is it right to put children under these restrictions will it actually help i don't know if they're in the head or not but it's right it's right to go to or prosecute them because if you

lead people and if you lead young people to do that it's going to encourage people to do criminal and a clue is their life it's not it's their right to look not not to prosecute them and not put them in june but at least 2 of them that they should not do or comment favorably or at least let's bring in john then john a did she go along with this because from one point of view to children really understand what they're saying. well i think yes i think they probably do i mean my feeling about this of course i understand your line which is that it's absurd and possibly unjust to prosecute children my view on it is a little different i think the fact that there are these 66 cases that you mentioned in your report shows the extent of the problem. the fact is that there are millions of children in french schools of immigrant background and god knows

how many of them come from families that sympathize with islamic terrorism personally i think the problem is too big for the police ever to get to the bottom of and of course they're trying to do their best it may seem a bit ridiculous but i don't think that the fact that they are minors should blind us to the extent of this problem there is a huge amount of sympathy for islamic terrorism among young people not necessarily mine as well though perhaps including minors of muslim extraction and that is a terrible terrible problem and unfortunately i don't think that. even a handful of police arrests will ever get to the bottom of the problem i suppose the question is i mean if it's french no one nobody's doubting that you know police and authorities are doing the correct thing the question is well it what will it work what impact will it have on these children could it actually breed more resentment i mean that's that's what i'm getting at. and then again we

don't know what impacts going to have ensued when because their children do young and issue as my colleagues from here from iran's family from muslim from muslim families and they feel they are persecuted in france would we ask if you really want or not and muslim people are not persecuted in france even in a prison match one is leg in favor of a must let and different way of living but as a muslim in france is. if you put them in jail it's not going to help them because they're going to be rather going to be radicalized in the jails and they gonna get even worse so what we should do in the hearing has to we have to teach them now radical islamic terrorism is not a good theory and if you support in an act of terror is now it's used if it's if you support an act of rape when you can. not even in the

united states when we're in the freedom of speech is more much more easier than in france you can do it if you are not coming in if you want but i heard john i haven't heard much and that's not to say it's not happening but rehabilitation of these children i mean i'm assuming it will happen but i also notice that they're not allowed to go to school they're not allowed to talk with their sort of friends at school they kept away from teachers is there a danger that they will just become isolated and and i've come back to my point is this is this going to help of the whole idea is to integrate all this have the opposite effect i think the program of integration has completely broken down and that's what these events demonstrate the whole french policy has been based on integration particularly through the state school system and it has clearly failed so yes you're right to say that taking these children out of school may not work

but i repeat what i said earlier we have a gigantic problem we have huge amounts of immigrants in france and i'm afraid to say that the existence of these immigrant communities is a breeding ground for islamic fundamentalism and fundamentalism is a breeding ground for terrorism so in fact although in your question you said is this going to make the situation worse in fact one is almost tempted to say that the measures need to be more even more radical than they are at the moment what would you suggest john. if i may well on earth at least suggest stopping immigration and i would also suggest adopting a far more muscular national narrative the narrative of tolerance and secularism has failed it is patently failed and nobody can say that it has succeeded the public schools are not doing what they should be doing in france and what they've been supposed to be doing for a century and therefore the solution has to be sought elsewhere so i repeat

immigration is part of the problem it is to some extent a cause and it has to be stopped it's still continuing at a rate of several $100000.00 a year into fronts and those levels are unsustainable incidentally independently of the question of islamic terrorism caruso i saw you shaking your head there what are your thoughts on assimilation if i may say because it's clear is that terrorism is not is not the only fact of. immigration immigration has nothing to do with terrorism you have a leg up in me. in france you have a lot of muslim immigrants in france who are in a quote with differential are different leaving you but few people if you. sit curious people who are muslim people that are not in at war with their friends way of living and they are in their radical islam but this has nothing to the it with with i'm

a lawyer. and i defend some there are some events which are not at abc. ok with the radical islam big they just they want to live in france they want to do their lives in france i mean immigrant myself and i'm here in france i have nothing to do with their radical islam i don't. like. terrorism i hate her resent that's now the family meet region that's been with these people of few people feed off that. are muslim people in france are from around the region but they did not hear of this morning of the oh we're running out of time just respond to that argument that the majority of muslims are lower abiding well nobody ducks that but 100 percent of the islamic terrorists who have beheaded people or killed them in other ways in france in the last few years and indeed this problem has been going on actually for decades doe 100 percent of them of either.