CNN anchor Anderson Cooper calls Trump 'an obese turtle on its back' after news conference

‘It's sad and it is truly pathetic’

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper likened Donald Trump's threat of litigation over the election to "an obese turtle on its back flailing in the hot Sun".

Mr Trump held a press conference at the White House to repeat claims of voter fraud and say Democrats were trying to "steal the election".

Immediately after the short press conference, Cooper said the examples of fraud offered by the president – papers on windows and things he’s seen on the internet – were not "actual evidence".

"I don't think we've ever seen anything like this from the president of the United States and I think, as Jake [Tapper] said, it's sad and it is truly pathetic and, of course, it’ll go through the courts, but you'll notice the president did not have any evidence presented at all, nothing, no real actual evidence of any kind of fraud," Mr Cooper said.

Read more: Follow the 2020 US election results live

"That is the president of the United States, that is the most powerful person in the world and we see him like an obese turtle on his back flailing in the hot Sun realising his time is over.

"But he just hasn't accepted it and he wants to take everyone down with him, including this country."

As Joe Biden edged closer to winning the 270 votes to become president, Mr Trump held a press briefing to say he "easily" won if not for the allegedly illegal votes being counted after Election Day.

“If you count the legal votes I easily win,” said Mr Trump. “If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.

“We think there'll be a lot of litigation because we can't have an election stolen like this.”

Mr Biden currently stands at 264 electoral college votes by the Associated Press' official count, which includes Arizona, which is still being contested by the Trump campaign.

Mr Trump has 214 votes, and he would need to win Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia to secure a second term.

“I have been talking about this for many months with all of you. And I've said very strongly that mail-in ballots are going to end up being a disaster.”