President Donald Trump mounts legal battle in several states, Joe Biden inches closer to victory

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris of Indian origin inched closer to magic figure of 270 Electoral College votes, even as incumbent Republican President Donald Trump moved ahe with his plan to mount a massive legal battle.

Biden is falling short of six to 17 Electoral College votes, according to projections me by various media outlets. Trump's count for Electoral College votes stood at 214, with his path to victory getting narrower.

By late Wednesday, Trump declared victory in battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, rth Carolina and Georgia.

"We have claimed, for Electoral Vote purposes, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (which won't allow legal observers), State of Georgia and State of rth Carolina, each one of which has a BIG Trump le. ditionally, we hereby claim State of Michigan if, in fact ... re was a large number of secretly dumped ballots as has been widely reported!" president said in a series of tweets.

"Our lawyers have asked for 'meaningful access', but what good does that do? dam has alrey been done to integrity of our system, and to Presidential Election itself. This is what should be discussed!" he said in ar tweet.

Biden exuded confidence in winning race. "Keep faith in process and in each or. Toger, we will win this," he said in a tweet.

Trump campaign went ahe with lawsuits in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania and has demanded a recounting of votes in Wisconsin. Mainstream media has projected Biden as winner in Michigan and Wisconsin. Trump has maintained a le in Pennsylvania.

Trump desperately needs to win three or battleground states -- Georgia, rth Carolina, where he has a narrow le, and Neva, where Biden has a very slim le. While Trump campaign is hoping that president would be able to win Arizona, many media outlets have projected Biden as winner in that state.

"We are going to win Pennsylvania, but y are trying to cheat us out of it because y kw it is ir only path to victory," Eric Trump, younger son of president, told reporters at a news conference in Philelphia.

"We are going to file a suit in Pennsylvania. It is last thing that we wanted to do, it is last thing my far wanted to do. But this is rampant corruption. It cant happen. It is t fair. This is t a democracy," he said at press conference, which was joined by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.

"This is beyond anything I have ever seen before. Do you think we are stupid? Do you think we are fools? You kw something, Democrats do think you are stupid. And y do think you are fools. That is why you get called 'deplorable' and 'chumps'. We are going to stick with this. We are going to win this election. We have actually won it. It is just a matter of counting votes fairly," Giuliani said.

He also hinted at filing a federal lawsuit against voter fraud. New York Times described it as a last-ditch effort by Trump campaign.

Republican National Committee (RNC) and Trump campaign said y have filed a lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania actions to extend voter ID deline set by law, circumventing state law and bringing more chaos and uncertainty to process.

"Shrouded in secrecy, Democrats continue to make voting changes in eleventh hour that will only dilute integrity of vote, delay results and diminish confidence in outcome. RNC and Trump campaign are prepared to take all legal actions to ensure integrity of election, and that includes holding rogue Democrat officials accountable," RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said.

"We will t allow Democrat election officials to steal this election from President Trump with late, illegal ballots. President Trump and Georgia Republican Party have filed a suit to require all Georgia counties to separate any and all late-arriving ballots from all legally cast ballots to ensure a free, fair election in which only legal, valid ballots count," Justin Clark, deputy campaign manr of Trump campaign, said.

In a separate statement, Clark said Trump is taking se actions to ensure integrity of election. "With se key actions, President Trump is telling all Americans he will do whatever it takes to ensure integrity of this election for good of nation," he said.

Meanwhile, both Biden and Trump campaigns have reached out to ir respective support bases to raise funds for legal battle.

"Since we last reached out, Donald Trump has alrey tweeted misleing claims about his position in key states and his campaign is alrey questioning results in Wisconsin -- a state we are fully confident that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won," said Biden campaign, which has created Biden Fight Fund for purpose.

"Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will stand for right of all Americans to have ir votes counted -- matter who y voted for. And we remain confident that when that process is completed, Joe Biden will be next President of United States. But as always, we can only do it with your help," it ded.

(Im: AP)