A federal appeals court flatly dismissed President Donald Trump’s claim that the election was unfair on Friday and refused to freeze Joe Biden’s victory in the key state of Pennsylvania.
In a scathing review of Trump’s campaign arguments that the president was misled in his Nov. 3 re-election bid, three appeals court judges unanimously said the injustice allegations were not supported by evidence.
“The accusations of injustice are serious. But calling an election unfair does not mean that it is, ”the court said.
In appealing a lower court ruling, the Trump campaign alleged discrimination, the justices said.
“But their alchemy cannot transmute lead into gold,” the court said.
It was the latest of more than two dozen court losses across the country for the Trump campaign and Republicans who have alleged fraud and other misconduct contributed to the loss of the president.
Trump persists in arguing that Biden’s clear victory is invalid.
“So you understand, this election was a fraud,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Last week, a Pennsylvania state court rejected arguments by Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani that the millions of votes in the state should be thrown out for fraud.
However, the judge in that case embarrassed Giuliani by forcing him to admit that none of his precise claims in court involved fraud or nothing more than technical problems in monitoring the vote count.
On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania government officially certified Biden’s victory in the state, and the Trump campaign appealed to the federal court to freeze that certification.
But the appeals court said the Trump campaign had nothing substantive to argue.
“His accusations are vague and conclusive,” the judges said.
“He never alleges that someone treated the Trump campaign or Trump’s votes worse than they treated the Biden campaign or Biden’s votes.”
With Biden’s national leadership in the popular vote and the electoral college now virtually impregnable, the court indicated that another appeal, to the United States Supreme Court, would go nowhere.
“The campaign has already litigated and lost most of these problems,” the court said.
“The campaign cannot win this lawsuit. He admitted that he is not alleging electoral fraud ”.
However, Jenna Ellis, a Trump campaign attorney who worked with Giuliani on the case, tweeted her intention to appeal.
“The activist judicial machine in Pennsylvania continues to cover up allegations of massive fraud … SCOTUS!” he said, referring to the Supreme Court.
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