Donald Trump made a series of unsubstantiated allegations to claim he is being cheated out of re-election after his Democratic opponent Joe Biden appealed for calm and patience. The Republican incumbent alleged he was the victim of interference from “phony polls” as well as “big media, big money and big tech” after launching legal battles to stay in office. In an extraordinary White House press conference, Mr Trump said: “If you count the legal votes I easily won. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.”