Donald Trump repeated his unfounded claims of election fraud on Friday, as it seemed increasingly likely he would refuse to accept the results and concede defeat to Joe Biden.

“This is about the integrity of our entire election process,” the president insisted in a statement issued early on Friday afternoon, adding: “I will never give up fighting.”

Earlier, as the Democratic challenger moved into the lead in Georgia and Pennsylvania – two states Trump must win to have any chance of retaining the presidency – the Trump campaign insisted in a statement talk of a Biden victory was a “false projection” and hinted at further legal challenges to come.

In return, Biden’s spokesman, Andrew Bates, said: “The American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”

Donald Trump's baseless vote fraud claim opens cracks in Republican ranks

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Trump’s refusal to acknowledge a probable Biden victory seems likely to set the scene for an ugly legal battle waged across several states. Given the incumbent is yet to provide any evidence of widespread voter fraud, it seems like this will be a futile fight. But the campaign insisted it would be waged in any case.

“This election is not over,” said the Trump campaign general counsel, Matt Morgan. “The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final.”

Morgan said the campaign was confident it would find “improperly harvested” ballots in Georgia, and claimed there had been “many irregularities in Pennsylvania”. In Nevada, according to Morgan, individuals cast mail-in ballots incorrectly.

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“Biden is relying on these states for his phoney claim on the White House,” he said, “but once the election is final, President Trump will be re-elected.”

The Trump campaign had not provided any evidence for these claims.

Over the past six months Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power, when asked, and has claimed he will only lose if the election is rigged.

Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chief of staffs and the country’s top military officer, has said the armed forces would not get involved in the transfer of power.

Biden, however, back in June said the military would remove Trump if it came to that. He told the Daily Show: “I promise you, I’m absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch.”

Recount

In Georgia on Friday morning, as Biden squeezed into a narrow lead, the state secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, said there would be a recount. He also promised transparency. It seemed likely both Georgia Senate races, key to control of the upper chamber, would be decided in January runoffs.

Biden’s most significant lead was in Pennsylvania, where thousands of votes remained to be counted. The majority of those votes were from counties that lean heavily Democratic, the process taking longer than usual due to more votes having been cast by mail.

Trump quoted a talking head on Fox Business when he tweeted that “Philadelpiha [sic] has got a rotten history on election integrity”. But the Pennsylvania senator Pat Toomey was among Republicans edging away from what appeared to be the death throes of the Trump presidency.

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Toomey told NBC that though he thought “the president still has a very narrow path by which he can win”, he also thought there was “absolutely not” any “evidence [of] significant large-scale fraud or malfeasance anywhere in Pennsylvania”.

Other senior party figures sprang to the president’s defence. Several GOP politicians who might fancy themselves as contenders for the presidency in 2024 did so on Thursday night, after the president’s sons goaded the party on Twitter.

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Among senators, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina – a former friend and ally of John McCain, the 2008 Republican nominee, once seen as a relative moderate but who swore fealty to Trump long ago – all raged against the tide of Biden votes, echoing the president’s baseless claims of fraud.

Of the counting in Pennsylvania, which is being watched by official Republican observers, Cruz echoed Trump’s baseless claims of fraud when he told Fox News: “I am more than a little frustrated that every time they close the doors and shut out the lights, they always find more Democratic votes.”

The three only intervened, however, after receiving a public shaming from Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jr.

“The total lack of action from virtually all of the ‘2024 GOP hopefuls’ is pretty amazing. They have a perfect platform to show that they’re willing & able to fight but they will cower to the media mob instead,” tweeted Donald Trump Jr – seen by many as a possible 2024 contender himself.

We’re inching toward a winner ...

… as the final votes for the next US president are tallied. The coming hours and days represent a crucial test of American democracy. Over the last four years, many of the values the Guardian holds dear have been threatened: democracy, civility, truth, the sovereignty of the free press. Four years of Trump have eroded faith in institutions, emboldened white supremacists, accelerated climate change and undermined America’s standing in the world.

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