°®Âþµº

"The American people will decide the results of these elections. government is fully capable of escorting those trespassing on someone else's property out of the White House," Biden's campaign spokesman, Andrew Bates, said.

Trump has several times prematurely named himself the winner, refusing to accept the data showing Biden headed for victory.

In his latest broadside, he warned on Twitter that "Joe Biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the President. I could make that claim also."

Trump's campaign has filed lawsuits around the country alleging fraud but made little headway, with no evidence produced to back up supposed ballot tampering or other significant incidents.

Joe Biden, inching closer to victory after a bitter presidential election, appealed on Friday to Americans to turn the page on divisions as a seething Donald Trump warned him not to declare victory.

After Biden's campaign said he would address the nation, speculation grew that he would make a formal declaration of victory but he appeared to be waiting for confirmation of an unassailable lead and said he would speak again on Saturday. 

Biden's lead grew inexorably in Pennsylvania, which would hand him the keys to the White House if he secures its 20 votes in the that determines presidential races.

By late on Friday he had an advantage of almost 29,000 votes over Trump, although that was still within the narrow margin that would likely trigger a recount.

Biden was also ahead in Arizona and Georgia as well as Nevada, while Trump held a slim lead in North Carolina.

Georgia said it was ordering a recount due to the narrow margin and the southern state will also have runoff races in January for both its Senate seats, which will likely determine if Democrats wrest control of the upper chamber and give Biden a wider path to legislative victories.

Meanwhile, a US Supreme Court justice on Friday denied a request by Pennsylvania's Republicans to immediately halt the counting of ballots arriving after Election Day - referring the challenge to the full court to consider on Saturday.

Samuel Alito ordered Pennsylvania in the meantime to continue keeping the late-arriving ballots separate, affirming a decision already made by the state's top elections official Kathy Boockvar, who told CNN they were unlikely affect the outcome in any case.

Read also: 

The last-ditch petition for an emergency injunction - filed as Democrat Joe Biden solidified his lead and was poised to defeat President Donald Trump - targeted thousands of ballots.

Agencies contributed to this report.

Follow us on ,  and  to stay connected