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Donald Trump: ‘We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.’

Vote counting continues in several states.
 
President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, early Wednesday in Washington.
President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, early Wednesday in Washington. [ EVAN VUCCI | AP ]
Published Nov. 4, 2020|Updated Nov. 4, 2020

Click here to read this story in Spanish.

Shortly after 2 a.m. Wednesday, President Donald Trump held a news conference in the East Room of the White House touting victories in Florida and Texas and leads in Pennsylvania and Michigan, thanking the “American people for their tremendous support.”

He said the White House was set up for an outside celebration, but then “all of a sudden, it’s just called off.” He talked about “a very sad group of people ... trying to disenfranchise that group of people ... and we will not stand for it.”

“This is a fraud on the American public,” Trump said. “This is an embarrassment to this country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.”

He said his team will now work to protect the integrity of the vote. “We will be going to the U.S. Supreme Court," he said. “We want all voting to stop.”

It’s not clear what fraud the president was talking about or what voting he wants to stop. Vote counting continues in several states, even Florida, where Trump has been declared the winner. It has been said for months that vote counting would take longer this year because so many people voted by mail. Not every state could start counting mail ballots before Election Day. Florida elections supervisors could.

“It’s a very sad moment,” he went on. “We will win this, and as far as I’m concerned, we already have.”

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