President-elect Joe Biden shrugged off Donald Trump’s effort to challenge the election results, moving forward with transition planning even as the president pursues a multi-state legal fight backed by Republican allies and the Justice Department.
The Trump campaign said Tuesday it would file a federal lawsuit in Michigan that seeks to prevent the state’s top election official from certifying Biden’s victory. The campaign filed a similar lawsuit in Pennsylvania a day earlier, which Secretary of State Kathryn Boockvar decided to dismiss Tuesday, arguing that Trump’s attorneys did not file a case.
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Biden leads Trump in Michigan by more than 148,000 votes and in Pennsylvania by more than 46,000 votes.
Meanwhile, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger dismissed calls from the state’s two US senators, both Republicans, to resign over unspecified electoral irregularities. Biden leads the state by more than 12,000 votes.
So far, the Trump campaign has produced no evidence of widespread wrongdoing or fraud, and it is not clear that his effort to delegitimize the election is finding much traction among the public. A Reuters / Ipsos poll released on Tuesday found that 79% of Americans believe Biden won the election, including nearly 6 in 10 Republicans.
Only 3% say Trump won, according to the poll, while 13% say the election has not been decided.
Two separate groups of international observers have said the election was fair and free from major irregularities. One of them, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, criticized Trump for “baseless” attacks on the integrity of the vote. The other, the Organization of American States, which was invited by the State Department to observe the election, noted that Trump has repeatedly sought to spew “slander” on the electoral process.
Biden called Trump’s approach an embarrassment, and his lawyers said the legal challenges would fail and that the Democrat will inevitably be sworn in as president on Jan.20.
How can I say this tactfully? I don’t think it will help the president’s legacy, ”Biden said at a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware.
His campaign announced Tuesday to dozens of members of “agency review teams” that will begin preparing the government for the Biden administration once the Trump-appointed General Services Administration administrator allows the transition to begin with the conclusion that the Democrat is the entrant. President.
Biden’s allies have complained that GSA administrator Emily Murphy is obstructing the transition by refusing so far to issue the finding.
Republicans have largely supported Trump’s effort, although a few, including Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, in a statement Tuesday, have asked the president to present any evidence he has of widespread fraud. Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, also a Republican, said Tuesday in an interview with Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 that the Trump administration should begin the transition to the Biden presidency, a step it has so far resisted.
Nonetheless, the Trump campaign has gone ahead with its remote possibility court cases, while the president, who has not spoken publicly since last Thursday, falsely declares himself the winner. In a tweet late Tuesday, he tweeted that the country had endured a “rigged election”, as usual, without presenting evidence of the claim.
The Trump campaign sent talking points to allies Tuesday saying the election is “far from over” and that it will pursue a series of legal challenges. He also said they are “preparing to announce recount requests in key states.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has endorsed Trump’s approach. Attorney General William Barr issued a memorandum to federal prosecutors on Monday inviting them to recommend cases of voter fraud, in violation of Justice Department policy against conducting such investigations openly before elections are certified to avoid damaging public trust. in the results.
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo joked Tuesday that there would be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.
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Biden leads by about 12,600 votes in Georgia, 14,700 votes in Arizona, 20,500 votes in Wisconsin, 46,000 votes in Pennsylvania and 148,600 votes in Michigan. Vote counts generally only change election results on hundreds of ballots.
“These margins cannot be exceeded in stories. So the stories are yet another piece of political theater, ”one of Biden’s attorneys, Bob Bauer, told reporters Tuesday. Trump’s real target, he said, is “other, if you will, collateral targets.”
Some Republicans have spoken out against the effort by Trump and his allies to undermine the election and the Biden presidency. His former national security adviser, John Bolton, said Pompeo’s comment “gutted his credibility internationally” and added that he suspects the secretary was influenced by his own ambition to seek the party’s nomination in 2024.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican and critic of Trump, said the president had the right to use legal process to challenge the election results, but has seen nothing to change the outcome. “I think most people realize that this election is over,” he said. “We have to move on.”
Cost of a count
The Trump campaign will likely have to decide next week whether to pay a recount in Wisconsin. Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker has said he does not think it will change the state’s results, citing earlier counts that had minimal effects on the count.
The latest state tally cost $ 2 million; two people familiar with the matter said the Trump campaign intends to request one in this election.
Biden’s allies are stepping up their criticism of the president. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, called Trump delusional on Tuesday.
“This hoax is not a colorful sideshow. It is an assault on our democracy, “he said Tuesday, adding that Barr’s invitation for voter fraud investigations is a” fishing expedition. “
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