the u.s presidential election is hanging
in the balance
with the outcome dependent on a handful
of battleground states where the results
may not be known for days
president trump has said that as far as
he's concerned he's won the vote and any
attempts to frustrate that victory would
be taken to the supreme court
millions of votes are yet to be counted
and the president cannot credibly claim
to have won
at this point the president has defied
pre-election polls to do better than
predicted he's projected to win florida
ohio and texas and it's neck and neck in
north carolina but the biggest prize of
the night california has gone
as expected to joe biden he also appears
to be
on course to take arizona previously
held by
trump here's ben wright with the very
latest
this election remains a nail-biter and
the results in key swing states are not
yet known
but when president trump spoke at the
white house in the early hours
he claimed the race would be his and
then said this
this is a fraud on the american public
this is an embarrassment to our country
the president said he would take his
fight to the supreme court
there is no evidence to support donald
trump's claim of fraud
and millions of ballots are still being
counted as they should
it was joe biden who made the first
appearance of the night telling
supporters
to hold their nerve i'm here to tell you
tonight
we believe we're on track to win this
election
until then america had watched the night
unfold with little drama
the two candidates clocking up states
they were expected to win
democrats had dreamed of blocking
president trump's path to the white
house by winning florida
but his vote there stayed strong with
millions of postal ballots still to
count
this could about to become a protracted
and contested slog
ben wright bbc news washington