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    US election live: Biden and Trump virtually tied in key state of Georgia

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    9.39pm EST21:39
    Georgia is a virtual tie

    9.18pm EST21:18
    Trump lead in Georgia and Pennsylvania shrinks

    9.09pm EST21:09
    Biden’s lead in Arizona shrinks further as Maricopa county releases more results

    8.32pm EST20:32
    Steve Bannon suspended from Twitter, faces YouTube removal after urging violence against US officials

    8.20pm EST20:20
    Federal judge denies Trump motion to stop counting votes in Philadelphia

    8.01pm EST20:01
    When will we know the US election result?

    7.58pm EST19:58
    Welcome to the Guardian’s live election coverage

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    9.59pm EST21:59

    On Fox News, the Republican senators Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz have been spreading the president’s false narrative that the election is being stolen from him.
    Cruz, a Republican of Texas, baselessly alleged – as the president has done – that election officials are “finding” votes. In fact, they are counting votes. “Whenever they shut the doors and turn out the light they always find more Democratic votes,” Cruz said.
    Cruz and Fox News’ Sean Hannity wrongly claimed that Republican observers were not allowed to watch the counting. The Trump campaign’s own lawyer admitted in a federal court that Republican observers were given access, as my colleague Sam Levine pointed out earlier today:

    Sam Levine
    (@srl)
    The issue with observers in Philadelphia is over how close observers can get, not whether they are allowed into facility. Trump attorney just conceded in federal court the campaign has access. https://t.co/MaHCRybtRW

    November 5, 2020

    Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator of South Carolina, told Hannity, “I trust Arizona, I don’t trust Philadelphia.” While Trump is closing the gap in Arizona, he’s losing ground in Pennsylvania as officials in both states continue to count ballots.

    9.58pm EST21:58

    Sam Levin

    Update on Steve Bannon, the former Trump adviser who called for violence against US officials:
    A spokesperson for YouTube told the Guardian the video was removed for “violating our policy against inciting violence”, and that the account received a “strike”. (After three strikes, it would be terminated.)
    Bannon is also banned from uploading new content for at least a week. Alex Joseph, the YouTube spokesperson, added, “We will continue to be vigilant as we enforce our policies in the post-election period.” Twitter permanently suspended his account.
    Read more on Bannon:

    Updated
    at 10.02pm EST

    9.57pm EST21:57

    Oliver Laughland reports from Florida:
    I was in Miami, at an impromptu rally organized by the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Florida when Donald Trump delivered his White House remarks.
    The rally was one of four “Stop the Biden Steel” events being held simultaneously in the state (a reference to baseless claims of voter fraud perpetuated by the president), and counted about 150 Trump supporters lined up in a car park by a roadside restaurant. Organizers placed a large speaker on the back of a truck, nestled by a yellow sign that read: “Stop Fraud”. Attendees listened, almost silently, as Trump espoused baseless claims in an attempt to undermine the outcome of the election.
    “Four more years!” They chanted after Trump finished.
    Shortly after the speech, Enrique Tarrio, chairman of the Proud Boys and state director of Latinos for Trump, addressed the crowd, pushing more baseless conspiracies about the election. The Proud Boys are a far right organization with links to white supremacy.
    “I want to ask you guys to stay in these streets,” he told the crowd after informing them he was traveling to Michigan on Friday, a state that has been a hotbed of militia activity in recent months. He then led the crowd in a chant of “Whose streets? Our streets!” – a common refrain of street protests around the world.
    In a short interview with the Guardian afterwards, he labelled this reporter “fake news” and continued to push baseless allegations of election fraud.

    9.49pm EST21:49

    There are about 250,000 ballots left to count in Pennsylvania.
    Biden is trailing by just under 49,000 votes. He’s been winning the mail-in ballot counts by huge margins, and could very well take the state.
    Pennsylvania backed Trump in the 2016 presidential election, but voted for the Democratic candidate in 2012, 2008, 2004 and 2000. Trump needs the state’s 20 electoral votes to win.

    Updated
    at 9.57pm EST

    9.39pm EST21:39

    Georgia is a virtual tie

    Trump is ahead by just 1,902 votes. The two candidates are tied at 49.4% each. More

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    'This will make lib heads explode': Donald Trump Jr posts 2024 picture

    Donald Trump Jr posed in front of a “Don Jr 2024” sign in Nevada on Saturday, posted the picture online and waited for “the lib heads to explode”.
    “Hahahahaha,” wrote the president’s oldest son, on Instagram. “Oh boy. This was a sign up at the Fallon Nevada Livestock Auction. This will make the lib heads explode.” (“Lib” being short for liberal.)
    “To whomever made that thanks for the compliment … but let’s get through 2020 with a big win first!!!!!”
    Though Nevada went for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden leads Donald Trump Sr there this year, it is considered a swing state. Democratic voters are concentrated in Las Vegas and its suburbs while Republicans can be found in more rural areas.
    Trump Jr, 42, is best known as an internet provocateur who shares both his father’s brashness and his inclination for sharing disinformation.
    Since his father won the White House he has not been involved in policy like his sister, Ivanka, and her husband, Jared Kushner, or as active in running the Trump Organization as his brother, Eric. He also has two half-siblings, Tiffany and Barron.
    But Don Jr does seem to be the Trump offspring most inclined to politics and he has turned into a valuable campaign surrogate with a knack for communicating with the president’s base.
    “Don Jr represents the emotional center of the MAGA universe,” Jason Miller, a senior advisor on Trump’s campaign, told the New York Times, using an acronym for “Make America Great Again”, a Trump slogan.
    Trump Jr has only joked about running for office but he – and his sister – have registered strongly in polls regarding notional Republican candidates for 2024, whether to succeed his father or to attempt to deny Joe Biden a second term.
    The president’s oldest son has also published two books with political themes, seeing the first top bestseller lists, if with help from the party, and suffering embarrassment over a mistake on the cover of the second.
    A Vice reporter recently suggested that Pennsylvania Republicans were floating the idea of Trump Jr replacing Pat Toomey, a Republican senator who has announced he will retire. Trump Jr himself has not spoken about the Pennsylvania seat.
    Speaking to the Guardian this week, Rick Wilson, a former Republican consultant and member of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, called Trump Jr “a post-Republican Republican … there only to engage in that performative dickery that is lib-owning in the Trump world. It is a political performance art to show your contempt for norms, institutions and education.”
    Wilson went on to explain why, should Trump Jr actually consider a run for office, that might be an asset.
    “It has become the ideological underpinning of the GOP. There’s no party of ideas any longer. There’s no there there except for sort of the screeching fury of Trumpism.” More

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    Democratic party grapples with rising likelihood of Sanders as the nominee

    Centrists failed to coalesce around a moderate candidate Sanders’ Nevada win showcased his popularity HR McMaster to publish book that may pose headaches for Trump In the aftermath of Bernie Sanders’ victory in Nevada and as the South Carolina primary looms, the Democratic party establishment continues to grapple with the increasing likelihood that the Vermont […] More

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    Bernie Sanders sets sights on Super Tuesday after crushing Nevada win

    Party insiders voice alarm over progressive senator’s surge Analysis: Sanders was buoyed by Nevada’s Latino voters Opinion: It’s time for Democrats to unite behind Bernie Bernie Sanders took a resounding victory in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, bolstered significantly by Latino voters and extending his lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Related: […] More

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    Outcry after MSNBC host compares Sanders’ Nevada win to Nazi invasion

    Calls for firing of Chris Matthews after widespread anger Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist is Jewish MSNBC host Chris Matthews compared Bernie Sanders’ victory in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday to the Nazi invasion of France, spurring calls for his firing. Related: Nevada caucuses: Bernie Sanders wins in resounding victory Continue reading… More