Emily Maitlis hailed as a ‘goddess of broadcasting’ after taking apart Donald Trump fan on Newsnight

Newsnight host Emily Maitlis has been praised for her interview with a Donald Trump supporter who promoted the president’s claims of voter fraud in the US election.

Randi Reed, a losing Republican Congressional candidate in Nevada, appeared on the BBC programme on Wednesday to defend Mr Trump’s threat of legal action.

Maitlis asked her whether the president would ever concede defeat, with the latest results pointing towards a Biden victory.

She said: “Absolutely not. I completely agree with Trump. We need to get to the bottom of what’s going on to accept never mind concede the seat.

“To have an absolute stop in vote counting is completely unacceptable, but at the same time the Democrats laid out the exact plan and we’re just living it right now.”

The Newsnight host was unimpressed, replying “Sorry, I don’t understand.

Watch: Emily Maitlis gives a withering reaction to Barry Gardiner discussing his party's position

“You’ve heard Donald Trump in a tweet claim victory in Pennsylvania, which hasn’t finished counting, victory in North Carolina, which hasn’t finished counting and victory in Michigan, which has been given to Joe Biden and the Democrats.

“Why’s he doing that?” she asked, struggling to contain a laugh.

Recycling conspiracy theories espoused by the president, Reed said: “Because we look at what happened last night. Before the Democrats decided to put a stop to actual vote counting, Trump had an amazing surge.

“They did the math and realised that if Trump were to win those states that he was going to surpass 270 [the number of electoral college votes needed to win the presidency], and the Democrats wouldn’t allow that, there’s no way.”

“What do you mean they stopped? They’re still counting the votes,” Maitlis hit back. “That’s the whole point – they’re still counting a lot of votes.”

The false claim that Philadelphia had stopped counting votes has been debunked by commissioner Al Schmidt, who tweeted: “Philadelphia will NOT stop counting ALL legitimate votes cast by eligible voters."

Reed then claimed that “mail-in voting delegitimises the entire voting process” - despite Donald Trump himself voting by mail.

“So mail-in voting shouldn’t have been allowed during a pandemic?” Maitis quipped.

Viewers praised her no-nonsense approach to Reed’s falsehoods on Twitter.

One wrote: “Emily Maitlis telling off this trump candidate while she basically sat on the naughty step was ... beautiful."

Chris McKeon added: “Emily Maitlis’ restraint right now on #Newsnight is admirable. I’m not sure I could put up with the utter drivel her guest is talking right now.”

Sarah Doran said: “Neither side is doing themselves any favours in this Newsnight debate.

“Maitlis is just a goddess of broadcasting. Handles it with admirable aplomb.”

Another hit out at Reed’s arguement, saying: “We've all had that drunk & emotional friend at the end of party, sitting on the stairs, making no sense.”

In Phoenix, Arizona, dozens of Trump fans chanted “stop the steal” and “four more years” as they demanded a complete count of ballots, amid signs that the president was clawing back the Democrat’s lead in the state.

Meanwhile, thousands of mostly anti-Trump protesters took to cities from New York to Seattle across the US as the election remained undecided on Thursday morning.

Police in Manhattan arrested more than 50 protesters after a peaceful demonstration led to clashes.

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