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The dead cast their votes in the US elections, claims Donald Trump. You now want to present the death notices of US citizens who, after submission, cast their votes in the US elections. Or at least on whose behalf the strangers should have voted. For him, this is the ultimate test of widespread electoral fraud.
Trump expands his legal campaign to challenge Joe Biden’s election victory. So far, however, their efforts have been directed less at the courts than at public opinion. Its electoral challenge team is concentrating its energies on holding mass rally-type events in the contested states, in which its agents spread the alleged manipulations and legal violations in front of incited supporters, the Axios news portal summarizes the situation.
In parallel, the Washington Post is analyzing the legal content of the Trump team’s previous objections to the count. “It is from 0 to 5”, summarizes the newspaper. However, on closer inspection, Trump has had some minor successes; more on this below. Trump’s goal, the US media suspects, is to buy time to delay the count, and thus the start of the transfer of power to Joe Biden.
Speculation, hearsay, hearsay instead of evidence
Following the judges’ verdict in the process decided so far, Republicans had provided no evidence to back up their allegation of widespread voter fraud on a scale relevant to the overall result. It had been based on speculation, hearsay, and hearsay. Furthermore, this only applies to local irregularities which, even if correct, do not make a sufficient difference in the figures to change the preliminary results in individual countries. So far there has been no evidence of systematic electoral fraud. The count is largely correct.
Who are the people running Trump’s legal campaign? What states and what accusations are involved? And what are the chances of success?
Jared Kushner vs. Rudy Giuliani and Richard Grenell
In the White House, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani are the main agents in the legal battle over the election result. According to media reports, Kushner is not entirely convinced of the chances of success. He is said to have already tried over the weekend to convince Trump that the election is lost and that he is better off admitting defeat than pursuing desperate challenges. It is also said that the wife Melania influenced the president to this end. Some Republicans are turning their backs on Trump.
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Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s sons have the opposite view. Trump should fight. Defeat can still be avoided. This strategy is also represented by Richard Grenell, former US ambassador to Germany. He represents Trump at press conferences in the western United States, especially in Nevada, one of the disputed states.
The legal team at the White House
Giuliani sees Pennsylvania as the center of the dispute. Without his 20 electoral votes, Biden would fall below the 270-electorate margin needed to enter the White House in the current tally in the other states.
The group that is supposed to administer the judicial process also includes the campaign leader, Bill Stepien; Justin Clark, attorney; and consultants Jason Miller and David Bossie. The team’s extended circle includes Republican MPs Jim Jordan and Scott Perry, former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and current Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, whose scope is, of course, limited by a positive corona test.
The propaganda machine runs parallel to the lawyers
Trump depends not only on the legal team, but also on his parallel communications team or even more. Under the leadership of Tim Murtaugh, he is said to incessantly spread news of illegal votes, thereby reinforcing the impression of massive electoral fraud among Trump supporters. Murtaugh forces Trump loyalists to be prepared for appearances on various television channels and their news shows. And he offers broadcasters these Trump representatives as interview partners.
US citizens (and journalists) on Trump’s mailing list receive emails from the Election Defense Task Force with the subject line “FOR Patriots ONLY.” It ends with a request for donations to fund legal proceedings.
Pennsylvania is the center for legal objections
Each of the disputed states has its own regional team. In Pennsylvania, attorney Ron Hicks of the Porter Wright Law Firm leads the appeals. Last week, the Trump team had two goals there: postal voting envelopes that arrive after Election Day should not be counted; And to prepare for this, they should be filed separately from the beginning and separate from the ballot papers before the afternoon election day.
The main thing has not yet been decided. The Supreme Court ruled that it could later address the question of whether or not ballots that arrive after Election Day are valid, as required by Pennsylvania regional suffrage. Trump managed to request that one ballot be separated from the other.
Trump’s lawyers must correct the allegations
Second, Trump’s team claimed that Republican election observers were not admitted into the count; therefore, Democrats are suspected of committing electoral fraud. In court, however, Trump’s attorney had to admit that Republicans are also among the observers. “Your number is greater than 0”.
District Judge Paul Diamond responded, “So what’s the problem?” He denied the motion to stop the count. However, in separate proceedings, Trump managed to allow his election observers to follow the count from a closer distance than before.
Also in Georgia it’s all about postal votes
In other countries with a narrow electoral result, the chances of legal success so far are no better. In Georgia, Doug Collins leads the legal team. He was a Republican MP, wanted to be a senator, but only finished third in the race against Democrat Raphael Warlock and another Republican, Kelly Loeffler. Warlock and Loeffler will face the second round of the January elections.
Also in this state, Trump’s people focused their objections on the fact that mail-in votes allegedly received late were counted. They cited election observers who were supposed to be able to testify to this. The trials ended with the conclusion that they had not provided evidence. In certain cases, vote-by-mail documents that arrive after Election Day are also valid. This affects military personnel and US citizens living abroad.
In Arizona the dispute revolves around “Sharpie pens”
In Arizona, Kory Langhofer heads the legal team. He advised Trump on the transition in 2016. There, the objections revolve around doubts about whether the voting machines worked properly, depending on the pen used by voters. A “Sharpie pen” could lead to votes being counted incorrectly, Republicans said. Those responsible reject it. Secretary of State Katie Hobbs views Trump’s demands as inappropriate attempts to delay the completion of the count.
In Nevada, Trump supporters claimed that several thousand votes had been illegally cast in and around Las Vegas. “This is unacceptable and creates the impression that the system is corrupt,” said Richard Grenell.
In Nevada there is only one case instead of thousands
Instead of the supposedly several thousand cases, according to the Washington Post, the Trump team was only able to feature one person whose ballot had fallen into the wrong hands and had been completed by someone else. A woman named Jill Stokke. District Judge Andrew Gordon dismissed the plaintiffs. They could come back if they could prove a large number of cases.
In general, this suggests a dual strategy that mixes legal objections with mass propaganda. Unlike Florida in 2000, where George W. Bush prevailed over Al Gore in the end, Team Trump doesn’t have enough verifiable cases for incorrectly counted votes. On the basis of some cases, he wants to give the impression that this is a mass phenomenon. In all of these states, Trump is strengthening communications departments in parallel with legal efforts. 92 employees were relocated from Florida to Georgia, according to Axios.
