Biden wins Arizona, cementing U.S. presidential win despite Trump's refusal to concede

U.S. president-elect Joe Biden has wonthe battleground state ofArizona, according to U.S. networks,dealing another blow toPresident Donald Trump's struggling effort to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

Biden's win inArizonagives the Democrat 290 electoralvotes in the state-by-state electoral college that determines the winner, more than the 270 needed to claim victory. Biden is also winning the popularvoteby more than 5.2 millionvotes, or 3.4 percentage points.

With a few states still countingvotes, the electoral math is daunting for Trump. The Republican president has repeatedly claimed the election was marred by widespread fraud, with no evidence to support his assertions. He would need to overtake Biden in at least three battleground states where Biden currently leads by varying margins.

The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits challenging thevotecounts in individual states, although some have already been thrown out by judges. Legal experts have said the litigation stands little chance of altering the outcome, and state election officials have said they see no evidence of serious irregularities or fraud.

WATCH |Trump behaviour damaging Biden transition, says former Gore adviser:

Trump behaviour damaging Biden transition, says former Gore adviser

4 years ago

Duration 5:34

U.S. President Donald Trump's refusal to concede the election to Joe Biden is damaging to both the incoming Biden administration and to the country as a whole, according to Duke University professor and former Al Gore adviser Bruce Jentleson.

Hand-count audits in more than sixArizonacounties, including Maricopa County, where a majority of the state's residents live, found only minor discrepancies, the secretary of state's office reported earlier on Thursday. The audits involve hand counts of a random sampling of ballots.

Thus far, most Republican officials and lawmakers have publicly backed Trump's attempt to contest the election results and declined to recognize Biden as the president-elect.

But a handful of Republican senators on Thursday urged the Trump administration to allow Biden to receive intelligence briefings, implicitly acknowledging he could eventually occupy the White House even as they refused to recognize his win.

The president-elect traditionally receives such briefings from the intelligence community to learn of threats facing the United States before taking office.

"I don't see it as a high-risk proposition. I just think it's part of the transition. And, if in fact he does win in the end, I think they need to be able to hit the ground running," Senator John Cornyn told reporters.

Other Republican senators also said Biden should have access to classified briefings, including Lindsey Graham, a vocal Trump supporter, as well as Ron Johnson, James Lankford and Chuck Grassley.

The top House Republican, Kevin McCarthy, opposed the idea.

"He's not president right now. I don't know if he'll be president January 20th," McCarthy said.