Joe Biden is within touching distance of victory over Donald Trump in the US election, having flipped the key states of Michigan and Wisconsin and retained a lead in Arizona – for the time being.
A number of Mr Trump’s supporters have begun protesting outside the vote count facility in Phoenix, some of them armed after the incumbent president made baseless claims of electoral fraud in the hours after polling closed. In Detroit, they demanded the count be stopped.
Meanwhile, Trump has begun legal action in an attempt to prevent the counting of legitimate votes in battleground states including Pennsylvania and declared on Twitter that he “hereby claims” victory – despite trailing in the Electoral College vote by 214 to 264.
Mr Biden, the former vice-president, said he believed he was on track to take the Oval Office. But defeat would not necessarily spell the end of Mr Trump’s political career, according to one former campaign adviser, who predicted the Republican could look to run again in 2024.
