White House

Atlanta's mayor's on cloud nine over her state being on the verge of flipping to blue ... and she says the spirit of some fine Georgians shone through to make it happen.

Keisha Lance Bottoms is feeling incredible, as all signs point to Joe Biden being elected as the next President of the United States ... something she says reflects on Georgia and inspiration it drew from the late John Lewis, C.T. Vivian and Joseph Lowery.

Though she's happy now, the Mayor admits the overall election results felt more like a "gut punch" a couple days ago when she saw roughly half the country supported Trump. Mayor Bottoms told us on "TMZ Live" she said Biden needs to address some of their issues given their sheer numbers.

That's why she says it's so important to have a President like Biden who's unifying instead of divisive ... so we can get back to "civil disagreement" and move forward in a positive way together.

She says the past 4 years have been very dark, but Keisha sounds hopeful that America's heading toward the light.

Vivica A. Fox says Joe Biden's running circles around Donald Trump when it comes to being a true leader ... and he's not even officially the president-elect yet.

We got Vivica at LAX Thursday and she told our photog she's liking what she's seeing and hearing from Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris.

Vivica says it's refreshing to see Biden acting like a true president by doing his part to help the country remain calm as folks wait on edge for ballots to be counted and a winner declared.

Biden and Harris received briefings on the coronavirus pandemic and economy Thursday while votes were still being tabulated in key states like Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania, with Biden preaching patience and assuring the public our democracy is still working, albeit slow and steady.

Vivica says it's a welcome change of pace after 4 years of Trump, who by the way, kept claiming the pandemic would magically disappear after the election. The opposite's happening -- infections are skyrocketing.

The Presidential race is still undecided, but we DO have one clear Election Day winner ... and that's the pizza industry!

According to GrubHub ... 5 of its top 8 most popular items ordered Tuesday were pizzas, and another one was a pizza-adjacent appetizer -- garlic knots with marinara.

The popular food delivery app tells TMZ its most popular food item -- based on how much more it was ordered -- was the soppressata piccante pizza. That menu item saw a whopping 202% increase compared to other Tuesdays in October.

Right behind that was Nutella pizza -- which was 192% more popular -- followed by the first non-pizza food ... meatball sliders at 181%.

Rounding out the top 8 was burrata pizza, the aforementioned garlic knots, vegan cheese pizza, loaded curly fries and finally another pizza ... Sicilian.

Every good meal needs a stiff drink, and a margarita on the rocks actually ranked right behind the burrata pizza as one of GrubHub's most-ordered items ... with a 144% increase in popularity. Impressive, but Tres de Noviembre just doesn't roll off the tongue like Cinco de Mayo

Many folks opted for an even stiffer drink ... as the old-fashioned cocktail also saw a 121% rise on Election Day. We're guessing those were ordered late in the evening as the results started tightening up.

Those who had room after pizza and booze did order dessert -- tiramisu orders spiked 181% during dinner hours.

Donald Trump was on a tear Thursday, grousing that he's somehow being cheated in the election, but he offered no evidence to support his claim ... and he said he'll fight it in court ... specifically, the Supreme Court.

Trump spoke at The White House, saying if you count what he calls "the legal votes" then he wins. Translation -- he thinks the absentee votes are illegal. It obviously makes no sense, because mail-in ballots are every bit as legal as ballots cast at polling places.

He got all David Copperfield, musing how his early lead could "magically" evaporate.

And then, Trump set his sights on the polls, which he rightly said were ridiculously off. Trump suggested it was all rigged to keep his supporters away from the polls and potential donors away from their wallets. He says it's "polling suppression."

He attacked the states where he's losing, calling them corrupt ... especially Pennsylvania.

As for going to the Supreme Court ... as you know his latest justice could be a swing vote. Just 2 weeks ago, the Court ruled 4-4 on a voting issue. Amy Coney Barrett will be the 5th vote. The real issue ... Trump has no proof and therefore no case of illegal voting.

April Ryan views the divide between voters as a warning that more and more of us simply can't agree on what America's true nature is, or said another way -- who the hell are we???

The White House correspondent and CNN contributor joined us on "TMZ Live" Wednesday and we asked her what the nearly 50-50 split in votes for President Trump and Joe Biden says about who we are as a country.

April says she is concerned about intense rhetoric from Trump, and others, about liberating states, Black Lives Matter, and armed protesters at ballot counting centers. She says the fact storefronts were boarded up before Election Day shows where we are as a nation.

What's more, April says a lot of her friends voted for Trump ... and she's sad they don't seem to be moved by what another 4 years of Trump might mean for her as a Black woman.

Translation: Where's our compassion and empathy?

April says she can relate to Cedric The Entertainer, who told us he has some buddies who support Trump while turning a blind eye to Trump's inflammatory comments about race.

NYPD hauled off 50 protesters in handcuffs during election unrest in the city, and the most egregious, disgusting offense -- seen on camera, anyway -- was a woman who spit in an officer's face.

24-year-old Devina Singh yelled "F**k you, fascist!" in the cop's face twice before spitting, then she immediately got arrested. She was charged with obstruction of governmental administration, violation of local law and harassment.

Singh was among a group of demonstrators who got hostile and clashed with cops in Manhattan late Wednesday night into Thursday. Law enforcement sources tell us most of the arrests made in the chaos were for disorderly conduct and obstruction of governmental administration.

The violence followed a peaceful protest nearby in NYC's Washington Square Park with people chanting, "Count the vote" -- seemingly in response to President Trump's outrage over the election process and allegations of voting fraud in several states.

We're told the protest escalated as it moved to the West Village around 7:30 PM Wednesday, resulting in dozens more people getting arrested.

Meanwhile, across the country in Portland ... Oregon Governor Kate Brown got tough with protests in that city and deployed the National Guard to squash the unrest when a riot was declared by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office.

Americans had Canada on the mind with the fate of the presidential election hanging in the balance, thinking about moving there when it looked like Trump might get re-elected.

Folks in the States rushed to a Canadian government website on Election Night, boning up on immigration and pathways to citizenship, with the site seeing a 300% boost in traffic from the United States ... TMZ has learned.

People logged onto the web and found their way to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's page, with the first wave arriving around 7 PM ET on Election Night, when the polls started closing.

With Trump and Biden duking it out for Electoral College votes deep into the night, Americans kept researching a move to Canada. The increase in visits to the IRCC site continued into Wednesday morning, with no clear White House winner in sight and Trump sowing doubt about election results.

Americans, whether they were window shopping or dead serious, were greeted with loads of information on how to apply for permanent resident status in Canada and ultimately become a Canadian citizen.

In short, a permanent resident is someone who immigrates to Canada but is not a citizen ... and folks who want to become Canadian citizens must first be permanent residents, live in Canada for 3 out of the last 5 years, file taxes, pass a citizenship test and prove language skills.

Yeah, that's a lot of hoops to jump through just because of an election.

In addition to your Average Joe, celebs have been threatening to move out of the country if Trump got 4 more years.

Remember ... George Lopez said "we'll all go back," Amy Schumer was ready to pack her bags for Spain, Cher said she'd move to Jupiter and Tommy Lee had his eyes on Greece.

Joe Biden and President Trump aren't the only ones feeling the heat of this crazy election -- voters are emotionally on the edge, too, and crisis hotline operators are saving more lives than usual.

Take Crisis Text Line for example -- the 24/7 general-purpose help text line says it's seen a major uptick over the past 48 hours or so with people hitting 'em up about concerns about the election. Not that their operators can do anything about counting ballots, but they do help users cope with anxiety.

CTL says between 8 PM-12 AM on election night, their overall text volume was up 18% compared to Monday night, and convos with election-centric keywords were up more than 120%!!!

HopeLine -- which specializes in suicide, crisis and mental health -- tells us while they haven't seen a massive wave of callers just yet ... they're fully expecting it in the coming days as a winner is announced -- and despondent voters seek professional help.

We're told they spoke to nearly 200 people during the week leading up to Tuesday, and of those who were talking politics ... many were Biden voters concerned about the pandemic. Their trained active listeners use breathing exercises, object identifying in a room and just good old-fashioned small talk to help talk down stressed callers.

Joe Biden just gave what sounded a lot like a victory speech -- despite having a ways to go -- but it also sounded extremely Presidential with a message of unity.

The Democratic candidate -- who's now just 17 electoral college votes away from being declared the official winner -- spoke in Wilmington, DE with his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, by his side. The takeaway here ... he thinks he's got this in the bag.

Biden made sure to note he was NOT declaring a win just yet -- unlike President Trump did Tuesday night -- while at the same time expressing confidence most of the outstanding swing states are leaning his way.

The other goal of his speech was to address the blatant political divide in the country. Sounding like he might on his first day in the White House, JB said IF he wins, he aims to govern for every American.

Biden's comments here were much different in tone from Trump's defiant, accusatory one early Wednesday morning. Of course, you could say that's the difference between leading and trailing at the polls.

This is Biden's second public appearance since several polls closed Tuesday night -- with millions of votes still needing to be counted in a handful of states. Plus, Trump's already demanding a recount in at least Wisconsin ... if not 2-3 other states too.

President Trump predicted a Supreme Court battle over the 2020 election -- but his road to the high justices won't be one he can barrel down ... according to a prominent legal scholar.

Erwin Chemerinsky -- the Dean of UC Berkeley's School of Law -- hopped on "TMZ Live" Wednesday to discuss Trump's vow to take this fight over election results all the way to SCOTUS (even as it continues to play out) and he basically tells us ... not so fast, DT, quite literally.

Trump wants to rush his grievances to the Supreme Court, especially as it pertains to Pennsylvania. The commonwealth's recent ballot submission decisions -- from its own Supreme Court -- have drawn scrutiny ... but Chemerinsky says POTUS still can't hopscotch his way to SCOTUS without going through lower courts first.

However, EC also laid out a scenario where Trump could appeal directly to a Supreme Court Justice -- but even then he says it's not likely Trump would get a final answer on the ballot process in PA for a while.

If and when it does land on the Supreme Court's doorstep, Chemerinsky played that scenario out too ... and suggested the newly installed Justice Amy Coney Barrett could be the key.

Trump is getting way ahead of himself here -- as many predicted he would -- but that hasn't stopped him ratcheting up the rhetoric and sowing doubt about the legitimacy of the voting process ... especially in states he appears to be losing as of late Wednesday morning.

Pennsylvania might be on the table for a fight, along with Wisconsin ... which is close enough that Trump's ready to demand a recount.

People who voted for 4 more years of Donald Trump are racists, even if they don't realize it yet ... at least that's activist Marc Lamont Hill's take on the election results.

Marc joined us on "TMZ Live" Wednesday and made a statement many will find controversial about people who marked their ballots for Trump. He says some of those voters are just racist, but he adds ... others who don't see themselves as racist, should take a harder look.

The way Marc sees things ... it's one thing to look at the candidates and think they're all racist and make the best choice you can. But, for the BET host, it's an entirely different ballgame when you knowingly select the guy who defended white nationalists and wouldn't denounce folks like David Duke.

Marc says if you prioritized tax rates and a stimulus check over racism, then racism clearly just isn't a big deal to you. He suggests it's something with which Trump supporters just need to come to grips.

Votes are still being counted, but Trump's already approaching 67 million votes, and MLH says those numbers are alarming if you're Black.

The White House's coronavirus crisis last month is sparking a serious sanitizing mission ... and feds are spending thousands to keep the place virus-free going forward.

Regardless of who wins the Presidential election -- as we know, that's still very much up in the air -- a cleaning crew is going to be spraying down the place with a disinfectant mist.

According to federal financial docs, obtained by TMZ, the Public Building Service agency's dropping nearly $29,000 on the cleaning service in the East and West Wing "due to Covid at the White House."

Coincidentally, the cleaning contract started on Election Day and runs through November 2, 2021.

As you know ... President Trump tested positive for COVID-19 in early October about a week after a large ceremony at the Rose Garden to announce his new Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett.

Along with the Prez, several other members of his staff and guests at the event also contracted the virus, and Trump was hospitalized for a few days before returning to the White House -- maskless, of course.

President Trump firmly believes HE won the election, and thinks the only way Joe Biden can win is if there's shady ballot business ... so, he's going to the Supreme Court, and setting America up for a battle royal.

It was well after 2 AM ET when POTUS spoke at the White House ... rattling off all the states where he'd won, and said he was getting ready for a big victory celebration when it was suddenly called off.

Trump was incensed, feeling he was well on his way to being declared the winner based on victories in Florida, Texas and Ohio. He also feels he has a big enough lead in North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan to be declared the winner in those states ... which no media outlet is doing yet.

The incumbent is especially pissed about PA, where at the time of his speech he was beating Biden by more than 600,000 votes -- a lead he believes is unsurmountable. That's not how experts see it, with much of Philadelphia's ballots still not counted. Trump said he's going to SCOTUS anyway, because he suspects "surprise ballots," presumably cast for Biden, might be found at 4 AM.

The President also accused the Biden campaign of running to court, which, as far as the public knows, hasn't happened. Biden spoke about 90 minutes earlier, and was confident he was "on track" to win ... but made no mention of alleged cheating or the need for lawyers.

What's odd is Trump said he wants "all voting to stop." Voting has stopped, but what's happening now -- and clearly not in a manner to his liking -- is the counting of ballots. BTW, that counting might give Trump a victory in Arizona, where Fox News has projected Biden to win.

This is really the worst-case scenario for America. Neither candidate has the necessary 270 electoral college votes yet, but Trump is declaring victory and already accusing the Dems of cheating -- and now the Supreme Court, with his newly confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett, could be in play.

It all adds up to days, if not weeks and months of political strife, and possible civil unrest, ahead for the nation.

President Trump revving up for a legal battle over the election is already triggering peaceful protests across the country ... and it's feeling like an eerie, relative calm before the storm.

Hundreds of protesters made their voice heard loud and clear late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning outside the White House. The demonstration went down while the election results were still very much up in the air -- and before Trump's controversial speech -- with the majority of the crowd being Joe Biden supporters -- but a handful were there to back the current Prez.

Nothing got out of hand, though, as many had anticipated. Much of Washington D.C.'s business district has been boarded up this week, but cops say they only made 4 arrests related to the protest.

As we've been reporting ... Beverly Hills was also bracing for the worst on election night, and a huge crowd of Trump supporters did line Canon Drive in that city.

The protesters were definitely loud, but there was no violence ... with cops only detaining one person there. Meanwhile, it was a little tenser in downtown L.A., where around 40 people were arrested after the LAPD declared an unlawful assembly.

A professional hotline dedicated to reporting funny business at the polls was inundated with calls alleging voter intimidation this election cycle ... far surpassing anything they saw 4 years ago.

Election Protection is a safe haven for whistleblowers who see something fishy or downright illegal at polling places all over the country -- and according to the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (a nonprofit that manages the hotline) ... 2020 was crazy busy.

A rep for the Lawyers' Committee tells TMZ ... since the month of October, their collection of 40k-plus legal volunteers fielded upwards of 115k calls about potential voter suppression -- which pales in comparison to the total 150k or so calls they got for the ENTIRE year in 2016.

As of this past weekend -- when early voting was in full swing in a majority of states -- we're told EP got a call from out from Hanover, VA about what appeared to be a militia group holding a parade in front of a polling place ... which freaked out some people.

Lawyers' Committee adds that officials on the scene noted there were BLM counter-protesters on hand too -- and that voters were feeling uneasy about the whole thing in general. We're told local authorities were alerted to check it out and make sure nobody was being harassed.

On Tuesday, Lawyers' Committee tells us they received several calls regarding alleged voter intimidation in Florida ... from counties like Hillsborough, Brevard, Palm Beach and more. In Orange County, we're told they got a report of 5 pickup trucks blocking the entrance to a polling place there ... something Election Protection says they flagged to officials.

There are more incidents they were made aware of on Election Day, including pollsters taking temp checks in Virginia -- which some folks thought was meant to keep people from voting -- as well as a heavy reliance on paper ballots, misappropriated voting machines and delayed opening times at polling places in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio and other states.

Joe Biden is feeling good about his chances to win the Presidency -- or at least he did shortly before 1 AM ET, when he addressed his supporters ... but President Trump is saying not so fast.

The former Vice President made his early morning speech in Wilmington, DE, telling the socially-distanced crowd he thinks he's "on track" to get the W ... once all the mail-in ballots and early votes are counted in swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Biden also tried to warn that final count is gonna take a while. He thanked Americans for being patient ... acknowledging what most experts are saying -- with so many ballots to be counted in multiple states, neither candidate will get to 270 electoral college votes Tuesday night ... or even Wednesday morning.

Joe says his campaign feels really good about its projected early lead in the race for 270 electoral votes, citing Fox News' projected flip of Arizona from red to blue.

Trump is pushing a far different narrative ... the Prez tweeted his campaign is actually winning and he's accusing the Democrats of "trying to STEAL the Election."

Trump's saying votes can't be cast after the polls are closed. He wasn't specific about where that alleged cheating was happening. However, Biden's mainly banking on early voting and mail-in ballots for the bulk of his votes ... so, Trump's beef might be a moot.

Twitter's already flagged the President's tweet as potentially being "misleading" -- which is sure to piss him off even more.