A vindictive Trump seeks to undermine Biden’s presidency

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It has been almost three weeks since President Trump stepped to a lectern in the White House in the early hours of Nov. 4 to declare that the election was being stolen from him. It was a fabrication designed to turn President-elect Joe Biden into an illegitimate president and has continued apace ever since. It will not stop with Biden’s swearing-in on Jan. 20.

Any thoughts Trump might have had of overturning the election were a failed enterprise from the start. On Friday, those hopes were dealt twin blows when Georgia’s secretary of state certified Biden as the winner there and Republican legislative leaders from Michigan, after meeting with the president, signaled they would do nothing to try to undermine the results. Biden has an electoral college majority, and the certification process continues to gather steam.

Through these weeks, the president and his legal team have failed to produce credible evidence of systematic or widespread fraud. Now they are resorting to wild allegations of a grand conspiracy on the part of Biden and the Democrats — charges repeatedly debunked. This effort is being led by Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was once a reputable mayor of New York. These claims of fraud are in themselves a fraudulent and cynical enterprise. Continue reading.

The Memo: Trump plows ahead with efforts to overturn election

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A full two weeks after President-elect Joe Biden was projected as the clear winner of the 2020 election, the nation is steaming toward a collision.

President Trump, far from moving toward an acceptance of his defeat, has intensified his efforts to overturn the results.

But that effort is running up against the clock — and against legal and political realities. Continue reading.

McEnany Whines About 2016 Transition To Justify Trump’s Misconduct

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Friday justified Donald Trump’s refusal to concede that he lost the election by running through a list of grievances about how Democrats treated Trump in 2016.

Trump has refused to admit that he lost the 2020 election, instead tweeting debunked claims of voter fraud and election rigging. The General Services Administration, which is responsible for administering the transition to brief and prepare President-elect Joe, has refused to ascertain that Biden did indeed win the election and continues to block the transition.

The Trump administration’s refusal to cooperate in the transfer of power to the incoming administration is happening despite the increasing death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for a nationwide vaccine distribution plan. Experts say the refusal to cooperate could make the virus, now surging across much of the country, even worse. Continue reading.

Scoop: Trump lawyers to avoid Michigan lawmaker meeting after COVID exposure

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Why it matters: This added turmoil inside the president’s legal operation comes at a time when the president is urging Republican state lawmakers to interfere with the electoral process and reverse Joe Biden’s victory to a Trump win.

  • “It’s just a shitshow, it’s a joke,” said a Trump campaign adviser.

Behind the scenes: Top Trump campaign officials held a conference call this morning with Eric Herschmann, a lawyer on the White House staff, in which they candidly discussed their legal conundrum. Continue reading.

Trump’s latest Pennsylvania lawsuit asks judge to just declare Trump the winner

A new complaint asks a judge to throw out 1.5 million votes based on a lie that Trump observers were not allowed to witness ballot counting.

The Trump campaign on Wednesday amended its lawsuit in Pennsylvania yet again, this time asking a judge to simply toss out 1.5 million votes in the state and declare Donald Trump the winner — adding back in the lie that Trump campaign observers were not allowed to witness ballot counting, and thus all of the ballots should be thrown out.

“Upon information and belief, a substantial portion of the approximately 1.5 million absentee and mail votes in Defendant Counties should not have been counted, and the vast majority favored Biden, thus resulting in returns indicating Biden won Pennsylvania,” the campaign wrote in its amended lawsuit.

The claim is a lie, as observers were allowed in to witness ballot counting in the state. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said as much in a 5-2 ruling on Tuesday. Continue reading.

Democrats demand briefing from GSA chief on delay in ascertaining Biden’s win

Administrator Emily Murphy has delayed the relatively routine step as President Donald Trump contests the election results.

Four senior House Democrats are demanding that GSA Administrator Emily Murphy brief them Monday on the reason she has yet to ascertain Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election, warning that her answers will determine whether they intend to haul her to Capitol Hill for a public hearing, along with other senior General Services Administration officials.

“We have been extremely patient, but we can wait no longer,” said House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney and House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey, in a four-page letter joined by Reps. Gerry Connolly and Mike Quigley.

Biden’s team can’t begin accessing federal resources to aid the transition until Murphy makes an official “ascertainment” of his victory, a relatively routine step based on the unofficial but clear results of a presidential election. As Trump has contested the election results, Murphy has withheld a decision despite enormous pressure from Democrats to begin the process. Trump recently praised her on Twitter, saying she’s doing a “great job. Continue reading.

The Trump campaign was not denied access to Philadelphia’s ballot count

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“They didn’t even allow Republican Observers into the building to watch. A terrible insult to our Constitution!”

— President Trump, in a tweet, Nov. 18, 2020

Trump is in overdrive, tweeting one absurd falsehood after another to delegitimize the election he lost.

One repeated theme is that Republican observers were not allowed inside the room as election workers counted mail ballots in Philadelphia. Fraud thrives under cover of darkness, Trump warns.

But, in fact, Trump’s own lawyers have attested in court that his campaign was granted access and observed the process, both in Philadelphia and in other cities, and has found no evidence of fraud. Continue reading.