Former U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden is on the verge of claiming the presidency from incumbent Donald Trump as a handful of states are expected to complete their vote counts.
As of Thursday morning, Biden had 253 of the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency to Trump’s 214 electoral college votes. The Trump team has launched several legal challenges aimed at stopping vote counting in several of the states that remain undecided.
Biden needs to only win one additional outstanding state, such as Nevada where he is leading, or Georgia, where his campaign believes absentee votes will push him over the top, to claim the big political prize.
Trump has been raging on Twitter about the increasing votes for Biden and stoked his base of supporters with unfounded claims that fraud is keeping him from winning a second term in the Oval Office. His campaign is suing in Pennsylvania and Michigan to halt vote counts that have been trending toward Biden. Trump’s team has also filed for a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden narrowly won the state.
At the same time, The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to hold off from making any major policy changes at its Thursday meeting with the U.S. election still hanging in the balance, even as pressure to act mounts amid diminishing prospects for aggressive fiscal stimulus.
