Trump family are all smiles as they join Donald for his White House announcement

The Trump family joined dad Donald in the early hours of Wednesday morning as the president made a statement to the nation in which he declared the election was a ‘fraud on the American people’.    

Sons Don Jr. and Eric, as well as daughters Ivanka and Tiffany, were joined by their partners in the East Room of the White House for the 2:30am speech. 

The family were all smiles ahead of the address following a glamorous election viewing party. Tiffany was joined by boyfriend Michael Boulos, Lara was on hand to support husband Eric and Kimberly Guilfoyle sat with Don Jr. 

First Lady Melania cut an elegant figure alongside her husband on stage after earlier footage showed her heading to vote in a $4,500 chain-print Gucci dress.

The Trumps, who had joined the president on his final rallies through the week, watched on as he said: ‘This is a fraud on the American public, this is an embarrassment to our country, we were getting ready to win this election, frankly we did win this election.’

Trump claimed that a ‘very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise’ his voters. ‘They can’t catch us,’ Trump complained several times, as he rattled off the current set of vote totals. 

Donald Trump Jr had earlier shared an Instagram snap of the elaborate viewing party posing with his siblings Eric and Ivanka and their children saying: ‘In the game. Let’s do this.’ 

Lara Trump also shared a snap with Guilfoyle with a celebratory emoji.

Each of the Trump children and their partners cut a sophisticated look, opting for sharp suits. Tiffany stood out in a bright read trouser suit, while sister Ivanka opted for a black jacket.  

Outside the White House chaos erupted as hordes of protesters from various groups and Trump supporters descended upon Black Lives Matter Plaza.

Video footage from Black Lives Matter Plaza shows tensions overflowing into physical altercations as thousands gather to demonstrate despite a heavy presence from Metropolitan police. 

Meanwhile Joe Biden held an election night rally outside the Chase Center Tuesday evening in Wilmington, Delaware before a socially distanced crowd who stayed in their cars.

‘It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who has won this election. That’s the decision of the American people. I’m optimistic about this outcome and I want to thank every one of you who came out and voted in this election,’ Biden said.

But Trump set the stage for a titanic struggle over the millions of ballots which are still to be counted and which might not be fully counted until as late as Friday.   

He said: ‘We will win this and as far as I’m concerned we already have won it.

‘We’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court — we want all voting to stop.’ 

The outcome of the election had effectively ground to a halt just after midnight with Donald Trump on 213 electoral college votes and Joe Biden on 224, and seven battleground states too close to call.

Biden’s failure to land a knockout blow by taking Florida, Ohio or Texas means that the race comes down to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – the ‘blue wall’ which Hillary Clinton lost in 2016.

But it will take days to determine the results from those states, setting the scene for a battle which was headed to the courts.

Shortly after Trump’s address Biden was said to have won Arizona and its 11 electoral votes, flipping a critical battleground state. 

The victory by Biden was a huge blow to Trump’s chances for reelection. Arizona has backed a Democratic presidential candidate only once in the last 72 years. 

At this stage in the race, according to AP counts, Trump has 213 electoral votes while Biden has 225. Trump would need 270 electoral votes to win. Several key states are too early to call, including Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan.