Joe Biden has won. What happens now?

Despite long-standing political tradition for the loser to concede, it appears unlikely that Mr Trump will do so

Joe Biden has been declared the winner of the US presidential election. 

The result was called after the state of Pennsylvania gave him 20 electoral college votes – pushing him past the magic number of 270 needed to become president. 

Despite the official result, it looks like a messy transition period could ensue.

Will Donald Trump concede?

After a speech full of baseless claims about election fraud that Mr Trump gave at the White House on Thursday, it looks very unlikely that the president will concede the election after becoming the first one-term president since George HW Bush.

CNN reported on Thursday that the president has told people he has no intention of conceding, even if there is no viable path to victory.

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Modern American political tradition has long been for the loser to call the winning candidate to concede and then follow up with a public speech, congratulating their opponent and speaking about the importance of the democratic process. 

Mr Trump, who has taken a wrecking ball to most political civility in the US, is unlikely to do so, particularly with pending legal challenges across a number of states. 

And there’s no law that requires that he must concede.

Where does Mr Trump’s legal battles stand? 

 As he has been doing for months, Mr Trump was still baselessly claiming that “fraud” was taking place in the election count, and continued to do so as it became clear that his hopes for re-election were dwindling.

Since Election Day, his tweets have repeatedly undermined the democratic process and have been flagged as “disputed” and “misleading” by Twitter.

The president has also deployed his children and allies to undermine the election counts, both in person and in histrionics on social media.  

Mr Trump’s campaign engaged in a flurry of legal activity to try to improve his chances, saying it would seek a recount in Wisconsin and filing lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia. A press conference was held by Trump allies in Nevada on Thursday, threatening legal action in the state.

Judges in Georgia and Michigan quickly dismissed Trump campaign lawsuits there on Thursday.

And at a Wednesday press conference in Philadelphia, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani raged against the electoral process, threatening a “national lawsuit”.  It was not immediately clear what that meant.

Statewide recounts in Wisconsin have historically changed the vote tally by only a few hundred votes; Mr Biden led by more than 20,000 ballots out of nearly 3.3 million counted.

Will Mr Trump leave office?

Mr Trump has repeatedly refused to say whether he would agree to a peaceful transfer of power if he were to lose.

The president has also signaled to his supporters that they should not accept the results of a US election - a dangerous position that was also evident in chilling emails sent from his campaign.

“The Left will try to STEAL this election! I”m calling on YOU to step up & FIGHT BACK," read one email blast.

According to Transition Integrity Project, a research group looking at 2020 election scenarios: “As a legal matter, a candidate unwilling to concede can contest the election into January.”

But the US political system provides safeguards by placing power in different bodies across the constitutional system.

The first stage is vote counting by the states and  the Electoral College vote in mid-December. The second part takes place  in January when Congress tallys up the electoral votes. 

Even if Mr Trump refuses to accept the results, he will be leaving the White House in January.

As a Biden spokesperson told Fox on Friday: "As we said on July 19th, the American people will decide this election. 

"And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”

When is Inauguration Day?

Mr Biden will be sworn in as president on 20 January, 2021, when Mr Trump’s presidential term ends at noon precisely.