Trump supporters rally in Washington as President refuses to accept defeat
14 November 2020, 23:05
Thousands of Donald Trump supporters have gathered in Washington to protest the result of the presidential election.
Coming together for the 'Million MAGA March', around 10,000 protesters rallied outside the Freedom Plaza before marching towards the Supreme Court.
They continue to make the false claim, as does the President, that the election was "rigged" and President-elect Joe Biden has not in fact won.
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A week after the presidential race was called for Mr Biden, his supporters remain furious at what they see as attempts by Democratic officials in key states to count "illegal" ballots - something that has yet to be proven.
Mr Trump paid a visit to supporters, waving to the crowds from his motorcade as it passed the march on Saturday morning as he made his way to his Virginia gold club.
Some stood just a few feet away from Mr Trump's vehicle, while others showed their enthusiasm by running along with the caravan.
Marchers included members of the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group known for fighting with opponents at political rallies.
Among the speakers was a Georgia Republican newly elected to the US house of representatives.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has expressed racist views and support for QAnon conspiracy theories, urged people to march peacefully toward the US supreme court.
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The march was largely peaceful, but some pro-Trump marchers clashed with counter-protesters who turned up to insist the President and his supporters accept the election result.
Following the protests, the President accused the press of "suppression" by understating the turnout and tweeted that "hundreds of thousands of people" - a grossly exaggerated number - had come out to show their support.
A broad coalition of US government and industry officials, as well as senior Republicans and former Presidents, declared last week's vote in Mr Biden's favour, repudiating the efforts by Mr Trump to undermine the integrity of the election process.
The issues the President's campaign and its allies have pointed to are typical in every election: problems with signatures, secrecy envelopes and postal marks on mail-in ballots, as well as the potential for a small number of ballots to be miscast or lost.
With Mr Biden leading the president by wide margins in key battleground states, none of those issues will realistically have any impact on the outcome of the election.
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Mr Trump's campaign has filed legal challenges have been dismissed by judges, some within hours of their filing, and others withdrawn by the Trump team themselves.
A former administration official, Sebastian Gorka, whipped up the crowd by the supreme court by saying: "We can win because he did win."
But he added: "It's going to be tough."
