By Nikhila Natarajan
New York, Nov 7 (IANS): An increasingly confident Joe Biden campaign sent out a stern message on Friday, without naming US President Donald Trump, saying the "United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House."
Biden is leading Trump 253-214 in the electoral vote count. He is on the cusp of victory if he carries Pennsylvania. Biden is now ahead by more than 9,000 votes there.
"As we said on July 19th, the American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House," Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.
The Biden campaign's remarks came on a day when Donald Trump has rage tweeted since 2 am, claiming (wrongly) that he has won the election based on "legal" votes, and that "these late ballots past Election Day are illegal".
Trump is fuming and showing it on Twitter and elsewhere. His public posture remains combative although White House insiders have been saying, in conversations with reporters, that they feel deflated, especially now that Pennsylvania is slipping away to Biden.
The President's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC that Trump seems ready to fight, a remark he repeated later in the day to White House pool reporters.
The President does not technically have to concede if he loses an election, it is more of a tradition. At this time though, Trump's mood is to contest the election results in key battlegrounds by flinging lawsuits and seeing what sticks.
Meanwhile, key Republicans have begun breaking away from Trump's stand, saying they see no evidence to support Trump's baseless claim that Democrats are trying to "steal" the elections.