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Fact Check: Did Joe Biden declare victory after Donald Trump? Internet slams outright lies and poor journalism

Biden said, 'I’m not here to declare that we’ve won, but I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners'

After Republican presidential Donald Trump falsely claimed victory on November 4, some reports have suggested that his Democratic challenger Joe Biden has followed suit. This comes after Biden said in Election Night speech on November 4 that it was “clear” that he would reach 270 electoral votes and win the presidency. However, contrary reports suggest that he stopped short of claiming victory.

Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware on November 4, “I’m not here to declare that we’ve won, but I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”

He resonated with the democratic ideals of America and said, “Here, the people rule. Power can’t be taken or asserted. It flows from the people. And it’s their will that determines who will be the president of the United States and their will alone.”He added that “every vote must be counted.” “No one’s going to take our democracy away from us,” he said. “Not now, not ever.”

Biden also spoke on fair voting. He said that the presidency “is not a partisan institution” and promised, “I will work as hard for those who didn’t vote for me as I will for those who did vote for me.”

“My friends, I’m confident we’ll emerge victorious,” Biden said. “But this will not be my victory alone or our victory alone. It will be a victory for the American people, for our democracy, for America. And there will be no blue states and red states when we win — just the United States of America.”

His speech came after Republican Donald Trump said on November 4 that vote counting should be halted. Trump said he would move the US Supreme Court to stop "all voting." He said: "We'll be going to the US Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any ballots at 4 in the morning and add them to the list... as far as I'm concerned, we've already won." Trump’s campaign has the new lawsuits in Michigan and Pennsylvania over better access for observers to the location where ballots are being counted. 

Previously, Trump was slammed for declaring premature victory. Now after Biden's speech, the New York Times said that the former Vice President did not declare victory before elections, BBC reported contrastingly. It wrote, “Donald Trump and Joe Biden are each claiming victories in White House race even as the final outcome hangs on a razor's edge and both sides ramp up for legal action.”

Now as the two contrasting reports land, some people on the Internet say that Biden is also declaring victory before final results. Others slam such claims and reports and wrote he had not claimed victory yet unlike Trump. A user slammed a report that claims Biden declared his victory, “An outright lie from BBC. Trump claimed victory (virtually every tweet). Biden said victory was for American voters to decide not for him to claim.” Another wrote, “Biden did not claim victory.” Another concurred, “Biden did not claim victory, but we know how desperately you want to him to win! This has to be the most partisan coverage of a US presidential election I've ever watched.”

A user quipped, “If Biden wins, will Trump build a new White House just to claim victory?” Another user wrote on such reports, "When did Trump claim he won? He said he's pretty sure he was gonna win. Better than Biden's campaign who actually claimed victory this afternoon." A user wrote, "This is false. Biden did not claim victory. He is waiting for the votes to be counted."

Fact Check:

A fact check of various reports corroborated with Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware speech shows that Biden did NOT claim victory before election results. He clearly stated, “I’m not here to declare that we’ve won, but I am here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”

As of November 4, Donald Trump leads by close margins in North Carolina and Georgia. On the other front, Joe Biden has clinched Michigan and Wisconsin. These four states along with Pennsylvania are being seen as battleground areas that will learn who wins the US presidential race.