President Trump said Saturday the presidential election “is far from over” after Democrat Joseph R. Biden was projected as the winner.
“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed,” Mr. Trump said in a statement released by his campaign. “The simple fact is this election is far from over.”
His statement came after major news organizations called Pennsylvania for Mr. Biden, giving the Democrat more than the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
He said Mr. Biden “has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor.”
“In Pennsylvania, for example, our legal observers were not permitted meaningful access to watch the counting process. Legal votes decide who is president, not the news media,” the president said.
Pro-Trump demonstrations were taking place across the country on Saturday after Mr. Biden was declared the winner, including a “Stop the Steal” rally in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania.
The president said starting on Monday, his campaign “will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated.”
Paula White, a spiritual adviser to the president, tweeted several hours after Mr. Biden was declared the winner, “God can turn your feast into famine in a moment! Is there anything too difficult for The Lord?”
She also tweeted a famous photo of President Harry Truman holding a copy of the Chicago Daily Tribune in 1948 with the incorrect banner headline, “Dewey defeats Truman.”
Rep. Doug Collins, Georgia Republican and a staunch ally of the president, said on Twitter, “No matter what the media tells you, this is NOT over. It’s not over until every LEGAL vote is counted. This is America. We the PEOPLE decide who our next President is. NOT the media.”
Since Election Day, the Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in several states challenging ballot-counting procedures and seeking a recount in Wisconsin. In Georgia, as well, there will be a recount due to the razor-thin margin of Mr. Biden’s lead there.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has acted as the president’s personal attorney, said Saturday as the race was called that the legal challenges would continue.
“Oh, my goodness — all the networks! Wow … all the networks,” he said, looking skyward. “Networks don’t get to decide elections. Courts do.”
The former New York mayor was speaking at a news conference in Philadelphia announced by the Trump campaign that also featured poll watchers who said they were being denied access to observe the vote-counting.
“Obviously, he’s not going to concede when at least 600,000 ballots are in question,” Mr. Giuliani said of Mr. Trump.
The Trump campaign sent out another fundraising email on Saturday afternoon, asking supporters to donate immediately to the president’s “official election defense fund.”
“The American people are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots,” he said. “This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election. It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters. Only a party engaged in wrongdoing would unlawfully keep observers out of the count room — and then fight in court to block their access.”
He said, “So what is Biden hiding? I will not rest until the American people have the honest vote count they deserve and that democracy demands.”
Biden campaign spokeswoman Symone Sanders responded, “Donald Trump does not get to decide the winner of elections. The people decide, voters in the country decide, as we have long said, and voters have made their choice very clear.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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