Biden close to victory as Trump vows fight

Democrat Joe Biden stood on the verge of winning the U.S. presidency on Friday, expanding his narrow leads over President Donald Trump in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Georgia three days after the polls were closed.

In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia's Democratic mayor said the president needed to accept what appeared to be a likely Biden victory.

JIM KENNEY: "You know, I think what the president needs to do is, frankly, put his big boy pants on. He needs to acknowledge the fact that he lost and he needs to congratulate the winner, just as Jimmy Carter did, just as George H.W. Bush did, and frankly, just as Al Gore did, and stop this and let us move forward as a country. And that's my feeling. I doubt he'll listen to me. But that's it."

Trump showed little sign he would do any such thing, making clear on Friday he would continue to press his unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.

In a statement released by his campaign Friday morning, Trump said: "This election is not over," and alleged without evidence that "there were many irregularities in Pennsylvania," and that ballots were cast improperly in Georgia and Nevada.

Election officials across the nation have said they are unaware of any significant irregularities.

Still, a Pennsylvania court on Friday ordered election officials to set aside provisional ballots cast on Election Day by voters whose absentee or mail-in ballots were received on time, after a group of Republicans brought a lawsuit challenging what they believed to be faulty ballots.

Winning Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes would put Biden over the 270 he needs to secure the presidency.

The former VP would also win the election if he takes two of the three other three key states where he held narrow leads: Arizona, Nevada and Georgia.

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER: "There will be a recount."

Earlier on Friday, Georgia’s secretary of state forecasted a recount in his state.

The Trump campaign said it would pursue that recount, as well as a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden won by more than 20,000 votes.

Trump's campaign has also filed lawsuits in several states.

On Friday, Reuters reported exclusively citing two sources that the Republican National Committee is looking to raise at least $60 million to fund the legal challenges brought by Trump over the results of the election.