A senior Trump advisor exploded at an ITV reporter for asking him whether the Republican party would accept the outcome of the vote, while counting it still ongoing.
US correspondent Dan Rivers had bagged an interview with Tim Murtaugh, head of communications for Donald Trump‘s press operation, at the Florida count.
Everything seemed to be going just fine, until Murtaugh was asked if Trump ‘going to accept the result if it is called against him?’
To which Murtaugh furiously responded: ‘Hold on a second. You’re going to ask me an hour and a half into this, whether we are going to accept this result. Do you ask any democrats that question?
As he then shouted at Mr Rivers multiple times: ‘When was the last time you asked a Democrat that question?
Adding: ‘You brought me up here to ask about the results and what’s coming in and now you are asking these ridiculous questions.
‘I stood here and waited for you for twenty minutes. And this is the question you are going to ask me.’
US correspondent Dan Rivers had bagged an interview with Tim Murtaugh (right), head of communications for the Republican candidate’s press operation, at the Florida count
Donald Trump has won the critical swing state of North Carolina and its 16 electoral votes in a pivotal moment in the election
Later in the interview, he did claim: ‘In a free and fair election we will accept the results absolutely.’
A similar line to one Trump had said a few weeks ago, claiming he would accept the result as long as it was ‘fair’.
However, earlier tonight the former President voiced his concerns about Democrats cheating in Philadelphia and Detroit on social media, as voters were still going out to the polls.
‘A lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia,’ Trump wrote on social media. ‘Law Enforcement coming!!!’
The Republican candidate did not immediately cite evidence to back his claim, which earned a sharp rebuke from City Commissioner of Philadelphia Seth Bluestein, a Republican.
‘There is absolutely no truth to this allegation,’ he wrote on social media. ‘It is yet another example of disinformation. Voting in Philadelphia has been safe and secure.’
Bluestein added he was in ‘regular contact’ with the Republican National Committee and was ‘responsive to every report of irregularities at the polls.’
Trump again made his claim, citing problems in Detroit, Michigan, as well.
‘Philadelphia and Detroit! Heavy Law Enforcement is there!!!’ he wrote.
Trump’s concerns about Philadelphia may be a result of reports of higher than expected turnout for Harris.
Kamala Harris reacts as she talks on the phone at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington
Donald Trump, accompanied by wife Melania, speaks to reporters after voting at Mandel Recreation Center in Palm Beach, Florida
This comes as Donald Trump cements his lead, winning the critical swing state of North Carolina and its 16 Electoral College votes in a pivotal moment in the election.
The Tar Heel state was a key target for both campaigns and was the scene of frenzied campaigning, with Trump making stops there in each of the last three days of the race.
In a major boost to the Republican, it was the first of the seven swing states, that will ultimately determine the winner, to be decided.
Harris’ campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told staff in a memo that, after losing North Carolina, the ‘blue wall’ northern industrial states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were now the Democrat’s ‘clearest path’ to victory.
She suggested the race was ‘not going to come into focus until the early morning hours.’
A Democrat presidential candidate has not claimed victory in North Carolina since Barack Obama in 2008. Trump has now won it in three straight elections.