At least seven major TV networks cut off Donald Trump during an extraordinary White House address in which he called the entire presidential race into question and claimed it was rigged from the start.

Fox News and CNN were among the few channels to air the president’s full speech, with CNN’s Anderson Cooper branding Trump ‘an obese turtle flailing in the sun’.

‘That is the President of the United States. That is the most powerful person in the world and we see him like an obese turtle on his back flailing in the hot sun realising his time is over,’ Cooper said on air. 

‘But he just hasn’t accepted it and he wants to take everybody down with him, including this country.’

Trump began his remarks by peddling a conspiracy theory that the Democrats were committing ‘fraud’ and trying to ‘steal’ the election.

‘If you count the legal votes, I easily win,’ he said, even though the counting of legal votes is still happening. 

CNN reporter Daniel Dale, known for his rigorous fact-checking of the president’s claims, tweeted: ‘I’ve read or watched all of Trump’s speeches since 2016. This is the most dishonest speech he has ever given.’

Republicans also criticised the incumbent president, with Larry Hogan, the Maryland governor, saying: ‘There is no defence. No person or election is more important than our democracy.’

Joe Biden tweeted a rebuke shortly after he finished saying: ‘No one is going to take our democracy away from us. 

‘Not now, not ever. America has come too far, fought too many battles, and endured too much to let that happen.’

It is still too early the call the results of the race, but Trump’s path to victory is narrowing.

He has mounted legal challenges in multiple states amid claims of fraud, although judges in Georgia and Michigan – which Biden won – have already dismissed cases put before them.

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