UPDATE - Trump declares premature victory as vote counts ongoing

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US President Donald Trump prematurely declared victory against Democratic nominee Joe Biden early Wednesday morning as results have yet to be called in several pivotal battleground states.

"You just look at all of these states that we’ve won tonight, and then you take a look at the kind of margins that we’ve won them by," Trump told supporters at the White House. "This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country. We were getting ready to win this election, frankly, we did win this election."

Several races are too close to be called, including in the key states of Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Alaska is too early to be called, but it and its 3 electoral votes are likely to go to the president.

Trump is currently trailing Biden 227-213 as the candidates seek to accrue at least 270 Electoral College delegates.

Trump, however, claimed without results victory in Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan.

In Georgia he is ahead by just 1.5% with 9% of the estimated vote yet to be counted, and in North Carolina Trump holds a razor-thin 1.4% lead with 5% of estimated votes outstanding. And in Michigan, fewer than 70% of estimated votes have been counted.

Trump further vowed a Supreme Court fight over the election, saying "we want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any" additional ballots as several states grapple with a deluge of mail-in votes, some of which were not legally allowed to be counted until Election Day.

Trump's announcement drew a swift rebuke from Chris Christie, the Republican former New Jersey governor who is a long-time confidante of the president, who said there is "no basis" for the president's remarks.

"I disagree with what he did tonight," he told ABC News. "There comes a point where you have to let the process play itself out before you judge it to have been flawed, and I think by prematurely doing this, if there is a flaw in it later, he has undercut his own credibility in calling attention to that flaw."

"It's a bad strategic decision, it's a bad political decision, and it's not the kind of decision you would expect someone to make tonight who holds the kind of position he holds," he added.

Biden earlier told his supporters in Delaware that he is "on track" to win the race for the White House, pledging to ensure that all votes are counted.

"I am here to tell you tonight, we are on track to win this election," he said, stopping short of the victory claim made by the president. "We are going to have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished. And it ain’t over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted."