Election 2020 presidential results

Sources close to the White House said some senior officials inside the White House and the campaign are beginning to quietly back away from Trump, in acts of self-preservation, as the returns in Pennsylvania and Georgia indicate the President will not win reelection. 

"It's over," one key adviser to the administration said of the race. The adviser went on to say there are concerns about what Trump will do, beyond the question of whether he will concede the race.  

"God. Who knows," the adviser said when asked what Trump might do next, conceding there were multiple officials in the campaign and the White House who were shaking their heads after Trump's litany of false statements Thursday evening in the White House briefing room.  

Some in the campaign, the adviser said, questioned the Trump team's decision to dispatch the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Trump's sons to make unfounded allegations of voter fraud, arguing that likely diminished the president's claims of wrongdoing. The adviser said Trump is well within his rights to contest the election results but is going about it in exactly the wrong way.

A separate adviser to the campaign described Trump as increasingly isolated in his claims of a stolen election. "He is mostly alone here," the adviser said of Trump's claims of voter fraud. 

The sources noted, however, there are still some aides and allies around the president telling him what he wants to hear. That will keep the drama going, the sources added.

One pressure point for Trump is that some in the administration are already beginning to look beyond the 2020 race and toward 2024. One adviser said some inside the administration and the GOP are starting to measure their actions based on ambitions for the next campaign cycle. 

More details:

More than 63,000 outstanding ballots remain to be counted in Clark County, the home of Las Vegas, the county registrar of voters said at a news conference Friday, a process officials expect to complete by Sunday.

The county is continuing to count its mail-in ballots after it reported the results from about 30,000 ballots earlier Friday, a lower than expected number that boosted former vice president Joe Biden’s lead in the crucial battleground state. 

The county now plans to report additional votes from the 63,505 remaining ballots twice a day, starting today at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET, until it is complete. He did not know how many additional ballots would be reported later Friday. 

Asked by a reporter why the county is not counting as quickly as its capacity allows, Gloria said, "Our priority here is to make sure that we are accurate in what we're doing. So, we're not interested in moving as fast as we can. We want to be accurate."

The county also has on hand 60,000 provisional ballots that must be verified before they can be counted, Gloria said. Another batch of ballots that require identification to be processed must be reconciled by 5 p.m. local time today, he said. 

Gloria said he would provide another press conference on Saturday at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET.

Remember: CNN has not yet projected a winner in Nevada or in the presidential race. Six electoral votes are at stake in that state.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney called President Trump’s claims of fraud "baseless."

"While some, including the President, continue to spew baseless claims of fraud...what we have seen here in Philadelphia is democracy plain and simple," Kenney said at a press conference Friday.

"God willing, we want a peaceful transition of power." he said.

As for ongoing signs that the President could lose the election, "I think what the President needs to do is frankly put his big boy pants on."

"He needs to acknowledge that he lost and he needs to congratulate the winner," Kenny added.

Remember: CNN has not yet projected a winner in Pennsylvania or in the presidential race.

Bob Harvie, commissioner of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a suburban county north of Philadelphia, said the next vote count update should be in the 2 p.m. ET hour.

He said that outstanding ballots fall into a few categories — there are roughly 7,000 “naked ballots,” while others are being independently verified after getting scanned. Harvie said the county also received some ballots that came in after Election Day. 

Remember: The state Supreme Court ruled that ballots postmarked by Election Day, or with ineligible postmarks, that arrive by today at 5 p.m. ET, should be counted.

So-called “naked ballots” are mail-in ballots that come in without a secrecy envelope, a second sleeve that helps prevent poll workers from seeing how someone voted.

“If the ballot comes in not in the secrecy envelope, we can't look at it, we can’t do anything with it. … There's also a rule in Pennsylvania law that states there can't be identifying marks on the secrecy envelope,” Harvie said. 

“Stray marks, anything that doesn't identify the voter, doesn’t identify who they're voting for, those are ones you’re going to have discussions about,” he added.  

Top Republicans are defending President Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud and a rigged election, even as some rank-and-file congressional Republicans have spoken out against the President's latest remarks.

Here's a round-up of what some of them have said:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

"Every legal vote should be counted. Here's how this must work in our great country: Every legal vote should be counted. Any illegally-submitted ballots must not. All sides must get to observe the process. And the courts are here to apply the laws & resolve disputes. That's how Americans' votes decide the result."

When asked specifically about Trump's comments last night, McConnell's office declined to comment.

Sen. Lindsey Graham

On Fox with Sean Hannity Thursday night: "I'm here tonight to stand with President Trump."

Sen. Ted Cruz

Tweet: "What we’ve been seeing the last three days of #ElectionResults2020 is partisan, political, & lawless. The American people are angry that vote counting has been shrouded in darkness. We must count every vote legally cast."

Sen. Marco Rubio

Tweet: "Faith in our election is as important as the outcome. Preserving it requires not allowing the outcome to be decided by either the media or a candidate. Transparently count every legally cast vote & allow courts to decide claims of irregularities or fraud on the basis of evidence."

Sen. Susan Collins

Statement: "States have the authority to determine the specific rules of elections. Every valid vote under a state’s law should be counted. Allegations of irregularities can be adjudicated by the courts. We must all respect the outcome of elections."

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy

On Fox News with Laura Ingraham on Thursday: "Every American should stand up. Whatever they see ... tell us if they see something that's incorrect out there," McCarthy said. He later added, "Do not be silent about this. We cannot allow this to happen before our very eyes."

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise

Spokeswoman Lauren Fine, saying, "Whip Scalise urges every state to fairly and equally enforce their election laws as written, and only count those ballots that were cast legally. Americans deserve full transparency to have confidence that their votes are being counted accurately."

House GOP Vice Chair Mark Walker

Tweet: "On a flight to Atlanta sitting next to a Secret Service agent who’s talking about how blessed he’s been to protect President @realDonaldTrump and First Family. Integrity matters. Trust in our process matters. POTUS loves America and deserves a fair election. #CountAllLegalVotes" 

Additional reporting from CNN's Capitol Hill team

Sen. Kamala Harris is expected to deliver remarks tonight ahead of Joe Biden’s planned prime-time speech, per a campaign aide. 

It will be the first time we hear from the vice presidential hopeful since Election Day. 

Philadelphia has about 40,000 ballots left to count, which could take several days to complete, Lisa Deeley, chair of the Philadelphia City Commissioners, said during a press conference Friday.

The ballots fall in three categories, "those that require review, provisionals, US military overseas ballots," Deeley said.

Philadelphia City Commissioner Omar Sabir urged patience.

"Ignore a lot of the noise that's going on, allow us to complete the counting process," Sabir said.

Pennsylvania's latest update on ballots shows Biden is increasing his lead in the Keystone State. 

The latest update on 2,617 votes came from Bucks County, shows Biden picked up 1,732 votes and Trump picked up 853 votes. Biden got 66% of the vote in Bucks County in the latest batch.

“Every time new votes come in, you have to get more,” King said. “Almost every time new votes come in, it is Joe Biden not only getting more but getting two-thirds of the votes.”

It’s not a giant lead yet, King explains, but Joe Biden is building a lead as an overall trend, with one tiny exception in one of the Republican counties to the north of Pennsylvania.

Currently, approximately 20,000 of the outstanding votes in Pennsylvania are still in Philadelphia County, where Joe Biden has been getting over 80% of the votes with each batch, King noted, adding that the mail-in ballots are consistently delivering a higher percentage of votes in each batch to Biden.

There are approximately 175,880 absentee ballots left to be counted across Pennsylvania, according to the election site. 

As Biden approaches a margin of 10,000 votes over Trump in Pennsylvania, history shows that once you get to that number, it can be almost “impossible” to overturn in legal challenges or recounts, King added.

Watch:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi celebrated the election results that have been tabulated so far on Friday morning, arguing Democrats will have a strong mandate to shape policy with Joe Biden as president even though Democrats lost seats in the House and may not take control of the Senate.

She added that she believes Biden and Democrats in Congress will hopefully “do great things” in the new year. 

Her comments came as rank-and-file House Democrats have raised concerns and complained to leadership about the party’s performance on Tuesday.

Pelosi and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Cheri Bustos said on the morning of Election Day that they expected to grow their majority, perhaps by double digits. Instead, their majority will be smaller in the new Congress after some vulnerable members lost their seats.

But Pelosi projected optimism, saying she views the situation as “a tremendous opportunity."

“Some members had some concerns about what happened in their district, but most of the people who expressed their concerns won. Most of them won,” she said.

She defended the losses, saying Democrats were fighting for seats in Trump districts that they first won in 2018, when he wasn’t on the ballot. She claimed some of those seats were “almost insurmountable” with Trump on the ballot this year.

Asked how she will navigate philosophical differences between members of a smaller caucus, Pelosi said Democrats have varying views but hold unifying principles, namely “America’s working families.”

"I would say we have a healthy difference of opinion within our caucus, but not in any way to be problematic in how we legislate,” she said.

She also addressed a heated conference call members had yesterday, in which some moderates aired grievances related to the election messaging, saying Democrats have “beautiful dynamism” in their caucus.

"What the conversation was about was what is the winning message outside,” she said. "And the message in the districts that we have to win is the message that unifies us. A message for America’s working families. Everybody knows that."