Republicans, Democrats slam Trump for prematurely claiming victory

President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Lawmakers and political commentators have slammed US President Donald Trump for accusing his challenger Joe Biden of voter fraud and falsely declaring victory in the country’s presidential election even before the counting of votes was completed.

At a press conference early on Wednesday morning, President Trump announced that he was poised to ask the Supreme Court to halt remaining vote counting across the country, CNN reported. “Millions of people voted for us tonight. A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people,” President Trump said from the White House’s East Room. “And we won’t stand for it.”

“Frankly we did win this election,” he said to a group of cheering supporters. “We want the law to be used in a proper manner, so we’ll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.”

A post Trump shared, which claimed that the Democratic Party was trying to “steal the election” was flagged by both Facebook and Twitter earlier today. Twitter has started labelling tweets that prematurely call the outcome of the election to curb misinformation.

We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020

Trump’s comments came soon after Biden told his own supporters that he was “on track” to win the election. “We feel good about where we are, we really do,” he said at his home state of Delaware.

Former Vice Pres. Biden delivers a statement at his campaign headquarters in Wilmington, DE. “It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who’s won this election—that’s the decision of the American people.”

LIVE UPDATES: https://t.co/GwwRl4EUb3 pic.twitter.com/29MANnC4gC

— ABC News (@ABC) November 4, 2020

With millions of votes yet to be counted, it is still too soon for either candidate to credibly claim victory. There is also no evidence of voter fraud so far. Several Democratic and Republican leaders and commentators weighed in on Trump’s announcement, many condemning him for announcing his victory too soon.

Here are some of the top reactions

Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was re-elected to a second term in the US House of Representatives earlier today, slammed the US President for prematurely claiming his victory.

Donald Trump’s premature claims of victory are illegitimate, dangerous, and authoritarian.

Count the votes. Respect the results.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 4, 2020

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, too, condemned Trump’s comments, calling them “deeply irresponsible”.

No, Trump has not already won the election, and it is deeply irresponsible for him to say he has.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 4, 2020

Meanwhile, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who led Trump’s transition team in 2016, called President Trump’s announcement a bad strategic and political decision during an interview with ABC.

“There’s just no basis to make that argument tonight,” Chris Christie says of Trump’s speech on ABC. “I disagree with what [Trump] did tonight.” Calls it a bad strategic and political decision.

— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) November 4, 2020

Tom Wolf, the governor of key battleground state Pennsylvania, assured voters that every vote will be counted in the state. He called Trump’s comments “a partisan attack on Pennsylvania’s elections, our votes, and democracy.”

We still have over 1 million mail ballots to count in Pennsylvania.

I promised Pennsylvanians that we would count every vote and that’s what we’re going to do.

— Governor Tom Wolf (@GovernorTomWolf) November 4, 2020

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar called Trump “dangerous” and compared him to a dictator for calling to stall vote counting.

🗣 Counting ALL ballots isn’t the same as voting. You can’t stop ballots from being counted. This isn’t a dictatorship.

This man is dangerous.

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 4, 2020

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