Trump falsely claims Fox News ‘tampered with election’ as network cuts away from Kayleigh McEnany’s ‘fraud’ press conference

Poll projections were ‘so inaccurate’, says president

President Donald Trump has falsely accused Fox News of "tampering" with the US election, as his feud with the Rupert Murdoch-owned network escalates and his attempts to hang onto the White House become increasingly desperate.

Mr Trump said Fox's pre-election projections "were so inaccurate" that they constituted "election interference", before lashing out at other polling organisations and news outlets he claimed were "so far off" election results.

Right-wing outlet Fox News, which backed Mr Trump throughout his re-election campaign, projected Democrat nominee Joe Biden to win the battleground state of Wisconsin by 17 points.

Mr Biden carried the state by more than 20,000 votes, or 0.7 per cent, according to the Associated Press's latest projection. Mr Trump won 48.9 per cent of ballots cast.

Holed up in the White House, Mr Trump continues to claim - without evidence - that he won the “rust belt” state, which turned blue for Mr Biden after flipping Republican red in 2016.

"...ABC [News]/WaPo [Washington Post] had me down 17 points in Wisconsin, the day before the election, and I WON!" the president incorrectly tweeted early on Tuesday morning.    

He added: "In Iowa, the polls had us 4 points down, and I won by 8.2 per cent! Fox News and Quinnipiac were wrong on everything...The worst polling ever, and then they’ll be back in four years to do it again. This is much more then [sic] voter and campaign finance suppression!"

The outgoing commander-in-chief did win Iowa, but his claims that Fox News, or any other news outlet or polling company for that matter, "interfered"  or “tampered” with the election is not based in fact.

President-elect Joe Biden has so far won almost 5 million more votes more than Mr Trump and has secured 76 more electoral college (EC) votes. Mr Biden sits on 290 EC votes - well over the 270 he needed to win the election.

The Independent has contacted Fox News and Quinnipiac University for comment.  

Mr Trump's outburst came after Fox News snubbed a press conference set up by his campaign team. Host Neil Cavuto cut into White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s opening statement as she again trotted out unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. I just think we have to be very clear: she's charging the other side as welcoming fraud and illegal voting, unless she has more details to back that up, I can't in good countenance continue to show you this," Mr Cavuto said.

Mr Trump has been embroiled in a row with the Rupert Murdoch-owned network ever since it called Arizona for Mr Biden before other outlets had done so. The race there went down to the wire but the president-elect eventually prevailed, according to Associated Press.

On Sunday Fox News reported, citing unnamed sources, that Mr Trump was feeling "sceptical" about his chances of re-election and was considering throwing in the towel, claims firmly rebuked by his campaign team.

Some six days after millions of American’s voted to eject Mr Trump from the White House, he and his legal team continue to insist the election was “stolen” by the Democrats, citing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell on Monday backed the president, saying he was within his rights to challenge the result in the court. His attorney general, William Barr, instructed federal prosecutors to investigate any “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities. Team Trump is yet to present any evidence.