joe biden has won the american
presidential election
the bbc projects that he's crossed the
threshold of 270 electoral college votes
needed with a win
in the state of pennsylvania he will now
become the president
in january pending the outcome of any
legal challenges
president-elect biden has now won 273
electoral votes though that amount is
likely to go up as he's also
ahead in several other states the trump
campaign has indicated their candidate
does not yet plan to concede we will be
heading to the democratic headquarters
in a moment
but first let's talk with our north
america editor john sopel who's outside
the white house in washington john
yes when donald trump left the white
house this morning to go and play
golf counting was continuing nothing had
been declared
by the time he comes off the 18th green
someone is going to have to tell him
that joe biden is president-elect and
that the race has been called
for him now donald trump is not
conceding anywhere near
his lawyers his legal team insists
they're going to fight and they have got
grounds although what those grounds are
are still not clear nevertheless joe
biden
at the age of 77 and exactly 48 years
after he first became a senator is now
going to become america's 46th president
and it should also be added that kamala
harris will become the first woman vice
president
first woman of color in such a lofty
position
in america outside on the streets in
washington the soundtrack
is of honking car horns the tension has
been relieved
after five days of waiting after
four long tense days we've reached a
historic
moment in this election we can now
project the winner
of the presidential race at just after
eleven o'clock this morning
the decisive and historic call was made
joe biden will be america's next
president
it came after the latest batch of votes
from pennsylvania
which meant he'd opened up a 30 000 plus
vote lead
over his rival donald trump the fox news
decision desk can now project that
former vice president joe biden
will win pennsylvania and nevada putting
him over the 270 electoral votes he
needs
to become the 46th president of the
united states
in cities across america that tend to be
more liberal
the party is starting to celebrate joe
biden's victory
people honking their horns hugging in
the streets
this morning donald trump went off to
play golf something he'll soon have a
lot more time to do
although the reality of his situation
was made clear to him
as the motorcade swept into his golf
club
the president throughout has been
tweeting furiously getting full caps
lock
one read i won this election by a lot
last night joe biden gave another
holding statement increasingly confident
assured that the tide of history is
flowing in his direction
we don't have a final declaration of
victory yet
but the numbers tell us it's clear tell
us a clear and convincing story
we're going to win this race biden at 77
years old will become america's oldest
president
in temperament and outlook he is the
opposite of donald trump
but he'll inherit a bitterly divided
country
the president is determined to fight his
lawyers are fanning out across the
country
but what's the case there are
allegations of plenty
but substance is thin it may be that
donald trump's tenure is ending
and the word that he hates the most will
attach to him
loser as he moves towards the exit
john sopel bbc news washington
well for the president-elect now 77 it's
not only been a long few days waiting
for this result
it's been decades trying to fulfill a
lifetime ambition
mr biden announced his first campaign
for the white house back in 1987.
our north america correspondent nick
bryant joins me now from the democrats
headquarters
in delaware nick tina it has been such a
long political journey it began in the
early 70s when he won election to the
u.s senate it took him to the west wing
where he was the vice president of
barack obama
but now he will sit behind the desk in
the oval office the white house will
become his home
he loves quoting the words of the irish
poet seamus heamney
about when hope and history rhyme today
that's happened for him
he's got one of the most electrifying
smiles in u.s politics
and how he must be rejoicing now at the
age of 77 joe biden has fulfilled his
personal
american dream he's about to become the
occupant of the white house
this former vice president was the
candidate who offered soft jazz after
the heavy metal of the trump years
easy listening moderation a presidency
americans could have on in the
background
eight years of donald trump can
fundamentally change who we are i really
mean it
in a significant way he was never the
most inspiring of candidates
but his geniality made him hard to
demonize mr biden
for the bbc the bbc i'm irish
joe biden the white house has long been
the target of his ambitions
he announced his first presidential bid
in 1987
and he tried again in 2008 but ended up
getting the second slot
as the vice president to barack obama
this also gives the internet one last
chance to
talk about our bromance despite the
generation gap they developed a bond
like
brothers it was sealed when barack obama
awarded him the presidential medal of
freedom
recognition to this pillar of the
washington establishment
of his decades in public service
his personal narrative is one of
recurring grief
in the early 70s he lost his first wife
and baby daughter in a car accident
five years ago he had to bury his
grown-up son beau who died of cancer
it's a life story that found an echo in
these sorrowful times
i'd like to be able to say we're going
to be back to normal
next friday the coronavirus meant he
spent much of the year sequestered in
his delaware home
he almost became the invisible candidate
[Music]
at a time when the method of campaigning
became a campaign issue in itself he
kept his social distance
and cast himself as the anti-trump
almost portraying this election as a
battle
of good versus evil if you entrust me
with the presidency
i will draw on the best of us not the
worst
i'll be an ally of the light not the
darkness
from when the results first started
coming in on election night it's been a
sometimes
fretful way for the supporters of joe
biden
but now they'll be able to celebrate
this finally
is his moment 2020
is his year nick bryan bbc news
delaware this u.s
election has seen the highest turnout
since 1900
so far mr biden has won more than 73
million votes the most ever for a u.s
presidential candidate
mr trump has drawn almost 70 million the
second highest tally
in history our north america editor john
sopol joins us again john
what happens next
what happens next is we wait to see what
donald trump does
i don't think there is any sign that he
is going to concede
anytime soon as i said in my report the
word he hates most of all
is loser but donald trump if everything
stays as it is and there's no reason to
believe that it won't
he will become only the third president
in the last 50 years to fail
to win a second term he will join jimmy
carter
and george h.w bush in that kind of
hall of infamy if you like and so donald
trump will want to fight
joe biden though is going to go full
steam ahead as if everything is normal
that he is going to proceed according to
all the constitutional norms
he will start getting security briefings
his security detail will be beefed up
and he will start acting as the
president of the united states
and his number one job of course at the
moment would be when he takes office
to deal with the coronavirus but on a
more grandiose scale
it will be healing the divisions of
america after four years of a very
divisive
unique president and that will take some
time there will be challenges aplenty
for joe biden
but at the moment he is going to enjoy
this moment of celebration
john thank you john sopol in washington