[NFA] With his re-election chances fading as more votes are counted in a handful of battleground states, U.S. President Donald Trump launched an extraordinary assault on the country's democratic process from the White House on Thursday, falsely claiming the election was being "stolen" from him.
This report produced by Chris Dignam.
Americans spent Thursday on pins and needles as the U.S. presidential election dragged on, still undetermined.
In Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia, ballot counting continued.
In Georgia, the vote count narrowed to a razor-thin margin -- the Trump camp desperate to hold on to the lead there.
In multiple news conferences, Georgia's Voting System Implementation Manager urged patience.
GABRIEL STERLING: "Fast is great, and we appreciate fast.
We more appreciate accuracy.
Accuracy is going to be the bedrock upon which people will believe the outcomes of these elections, be they on the winning side or the losing side." A judge in Georgia dismissed a lawsuit filed by the president's campaign that accused elections officials of mishandling absentee ballots.
In Nevada, a state with only six electoral votes but where Democrat Joe Biden held a narrow lead, Trumpprepared to launch yet another legal battle to challenge the counting of votes, alleging voter fraud with no evidence to support that claim.
ADAM LAXALT: "We firmly believe that there are many voters in this group of mail-in people that are not proper voters." The Trump campaign had also sued in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and asked to join a pending case at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Michigan effort failed.
Biden's legal team has called the lawsuits "meritless." Legal experts said the lawsuits had little chance of changing the outcome of the election but could cast doubt on the process.
TRUMP: "Good evening..." From the White House briefing room on Thursday night, Trump alleged fraud without evidence and once again falsely claimed victory.
TRUMP: "If you count the legal votes, I easily win.
If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us." BIDEN: "Each ballot must be counted." From Delaware, Biden urged clam as votes were counted.
BIDEN: "I ask everyone to stay calm.
All the people to stay calm.
The process is working." In Arizona, a state where Biden was hanging on to his lead, Republican surrogates for the president said they were confident Trump would ultimately win and lashed out at Fox News for calling the state for Biden.
KELLI WARD: "I saw Fox News inappropriately call Arizona... Arizona is more than set to be able to win." In Pennsylvania, the former vice president continued to cut into Trump's lead in the state, where election staff were working through a mountain of still-uncounted mail-in ballots.
President-elect Joe Biden has beaten President Donald Trump in Arizona's 2020 presidential election.
That's according to..
