S presidential election, with just a handful of states still counting votes.

President Trump has appeared at the White House, repeating his assertion that he has won Tuesday's election and accusing his opponents of trying to steal it through voter fraud.

In his first public remarks since the early hours of Wednesday morning, Mr Trump said the legal action he was taking in the most closely contested states was to protect the integrity off the election.

But he gave no evidence to back up his allegations.

Counting, meanwhile, has continued through the night in the handful of states which will decide this election.

The margins are incredibly tight, but Joe Biden appears to be edging ever closer to the White House has called for calm and patience, while the counting continues well.

He is currently projected to have 253 Electoral College votes and Donald Trump 214 on 270.

As you can see, there is the number needed to win the White House.

The key remaining states are Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, on North Carolina.

Joe Biden increased his lead by winning the 10 Electoral College votes in Wisconsin.

But it's still unclear when a final result will be in America remains on tenterhooks, with many nervous that any legal fall out from the election could drag on for weeks.

Ben write reports from Washington.

He didn't sound like a president confident of victory.

Instead, Donald Trump appeared in the White House to denigrate America's electoral process and make a slew of unfounded claims about voting and fraud.

If you count the legal votes, I easily win.

If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal three election from us.

We think there's going to be, ah, lot of litigation because we have so much evidence, so much proof, and it's going to end up, perhaps at the highest court in the land.

With his chances of re election appearing to receive by the hour, the president made a wholly false distinction between votes cast in person on the day and votes cast by mail.

Both our legal on both are still being counted.

Some in the president's own party spoke out on Twitter.

The Republican governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, said there was no defense for the president's comments, undermining the democratic process.

There is no evidence of postal voting fraud on Din Georgia.

A state Donald Trump must win toe have a chance of taking the White House.

His early lead has been shrinking fast as mail in ballots of processed in Pennsylvania, a state with 20 Electoral College votes.

Donald Trump's election night lead has been eroded to the Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit to press for closer scrutiny of the ballot counting process, but the state's top election official has strongly defended the count.

The strength of the integrity of this vote is really unparalleled.

Same.

When you vote in person, right, you have to be registered.

You go in, you sign in the poll book.

All of these things air tracked.

Good afternoon, folks.

Joe Biden's tone and tactics could not be more different to the president he's now confident of replacing.

We have no doubt that when the Countess finished, Senator Harris and I will be declared the winners, so I ask everyone to stay calm all the people to stay calm while there are still votes to count a Joe Biden presidency is not a certainty on his slim lead over Donald Trump in Arizona narrowed uring Thursday.

Donald Trump does not want to be a one term president on.

He's willing to rubbish America's democratic reputation to try and hold on.

But it's the states in charge of counting.

The votes on that process continues methodically, no matter what the president says.

Joe Biden has said he will try and unite this divided country if he wins the election.

If Donald Trump is on his way out of the White House, he hasn't made that task any easier.

Ben, Right?

BBC NEWS Washington Well, we just want to take you through those votes in the remaining key states still to declare in Georgia, with 99% off the votes counted there, we are very close to a projection on who has won that state.

The race is neck and neck on.

Donald Trump is ahead by only at the last glance at 463 votes will be talking to Ben right in Washington.

In just a minute.

He can inform us if that's got even tighter both candidates, As you can see on 49.4% of the vote, let's look next at Arizona.

Joe Biden is leading there.

He has 50.1% of the vote.

Donald Trump has 48.5%.

91% of the votes have been counted in in the state again, a very tight contest there in Nevada.

Next, Biden is leading with 49.4% of the vote.

Trump has 48.5% on 89% of the votes have been counted there.

Let's move on to North Carolina.

Donald Trump leads there with 50%.

Joe Biden is on 48.6% with 96% off the votes counted so far.

And in Pennsylvania, the numbers are very tight.

Donald Trump looks ahead with 49.5% of the vote.

Joe Biden on 49.2%.

Really, really close, 96% off.

The votes have been counted in the state, so a lot of percentages to throw at you there.

But the the message is, it's incredibly tight, very, very close contest in all of those states.

On here is some live pictures from Pennsylvania.

This is the count in Philadelphia.

Um, it's currently just after, uh, four o'clock in the morning.

Andi I think we can bring you those pictures.

Yes, it's a life count.

There's not a huge amount off activity there right now.

You can see a few people in the background, but the county is continuing there in Philadelphia.

Well, let's speak now, as promised to our Washington correspondent Ben.

Right.

Hello there to you, Ben.

Let's talk about the numbers first votes as we can clearly see still being counted.

But the momentum does appear to be with Joe Biden.

Is he going to get to those 270 Electoral College votes that he needs to win today?

Well, that that is the question America, the world wants an answer to it.

It's not clear what we do know is that if President Trump wants reelection, he has to win Georgia and Pennsylvania.

There's no other route back to the White House because of where he stands in the Electoral College without getting those two states on.

What we've seen over the last few hours in particular, is a crumbling of the leads that he had from election night through to now in those two key states.

I think the figures of the same that you just read out Anita.

So at the moment, hey leads in Georgia by just 463 votes in Pennsylvania.

His lead over Joe Biden is 18,000, 229.

We haven't had a much from Pennsylvania in the last hour or so, but we do know there are a huge number off ballot still to be counted.

We think around 150,000 on a lot of those are in heavily Democratic places like Philadelphia County, eso either from Pennsylvania or Georgia.

We could see a really significant shift in this race in, you know, in the coming hours, no question about it, and it would be E for Joe Biden.

If he does take the lead in Georgia and hold onto it and he clocks it up a za win, it would be remarkable.

I mean, build.

Bill Clinton was the last Democrat toe win, Georgia in a presidential race in 1992.

But the demographics of the place has been changing fast.

Urban areas around Atlanta have clearly been shifting Democratic in the last few years.

The Biden campaign had a faint hope of of adding it to their column it looks like it might be happening, and that will be a massive deal in terms of resolving this election.

But we're not there yet.

And it could be that, you know, that's that lead.

If Joe Biden takes in, Georgia swings back to President.

Trump has more votes accounted.

But Pennsylvania is, I think, you know, massive clearly in this.

And if that goes to Joe Biden, with all those votes still to count, then this is game over.

Uh, let's talk then about what's going on in the Trump camp right now.

Ben Donald Trump, clearly persisting with claims that he has already won this election, that there's widespread fraud going on but without it's important to keep repeating.

Presenting any evidence to that effect is his support within the Republican Party itself starting to fall away?

We've seen, obviously, his family has absolutely closest advisers and Rudy Giuliani and the like, very vocal in their support for his position.

But in the broader Republican Party, is there any sense that they're starting tow back away a bit from the president?

Not not quite yet.

I mean, I think what will be interesting during the course of today is whether prominent Republicans like Mitch McConnell, leader in the Senate, sort of step up and defend the comments that President Trump made in the White House a few hours ago.

You know they have bean.

They have bean passengers on the Trump journey.

They have gone along with it for the last four years.

They've been supportive.

But I think, you know, I think we can guess that privately, many of them will feel very uncomfortable to see their president make this sort of remarks that he did about the electoral process on sort of, You know, as I said, denigrating the entire way American democracy works in the way he did last night.

So we will see if they come forward.

You know, he sounded like someone who knows that he is potentially looking at a fairly imminent defeat in this election.

That's what he looked like in the White House last night.

And he has a massive job to do, and that needs to be a hell of a surprise in the way that these votes are coming in.

If he's going to turn this around.

Okay, Ben, thank you very much.