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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump suffered another setback Saturday in his desperate bid to overturn the U.S. election when a federal judge dismissed a campaign lawsuit that sought to eliminate millions of mail-in votes in Pennsylvania.
United States District Court Judge Matthew Brann ruled that the Trump campaign had failed to prove widespread voter fraud in the Nov. 3 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
“This Court has been presented with tense legal arguments without merit and speculative charges,” Brann wrote.
Brann added that he “has no authority to take the right to vote from a single person, much less millions of citizens.”
The lawsuit, led by Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, sought to prevent officials from certifying Biden’s victory in the state, arguing that some counties mistakenly allowed voters to correct errors on their mail-in ballots.
Giuliani, who made his first court appearance in 30 years for a hearing in the case on Tuesday, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Biden and Trump campaigns also did not immediately respond to inquiries.
Giuliani and other Trump attorneys raised a variety of conspiracy theories at a press conference Thursday, as they alleged the election was marred by widespread electoral fraud.
But they have had little success in court.
Trump and his allies have won two election-related cases and lost 34, according to Democratic election attorney Marc Elias.
Democrats said Saturday’s scathing verdict was further proof that those charges are false.
“This is what a complete ass kick to the president’s legal effort looks like,” Elias, who was involved in the Pennsylvania case, wrote on Twitter.
Giuliani has signaled in legal filings that he will file an appeal, but has little time to do so before the state formalizes Biden’s victory on Monday.
“When it comes to litigation, I think this is the end of the line for them,” said Benjamin Geffen of the Public Interest Law Center, who was also involved in the case.
Trump seeks to invalidate or change the election results through recount and direct pressure on lawmakers in various states. It would have to prevail in at least three states to prevent Biden from being sworn in as president on Jan.20, an unprecedented move.
In Michigan, Republicans wrote to state officials Saturday asking them to wait 14 days to certify Biden’s victory and allow a ballot audit in Wayne County, which includes the black-majority city of Detroit.
The letter cites complaints of “irregularities” that have not been substantiated. Biden won 154,000 more votes than Trump in Michigan.
That effort faces great obstacles. A spokesman for Michigan’s highest electoral authority said state law does not allow audits before the vote is certified, which will take place on Monday.
The widespread fraud allegations have been found to be unfounded, the spokesman said.
Two top Michigan Republican lawmakers who came to Washington at Trump’s urging said after meeting with him on Friday that they had no information that would change the outcome of the state’s election.
In Wisconsin, an official said poorly trained Trump campaign watchers were slowing down a partial recount by challenging each ballot and raising other objections.
Observers are disruptive. They are asking question after question, telling the tabulators to stop, stop what they are doing and that is misplaced, that is not acceptable, “Milwaukee County Clerk George Christianson told reporters.
A manual recount and audit in Georgia confirmed Biden on Friday as the winner in the southern state, the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia in nearly three decades.
The Trump campaign has two business days to request a recount in Georgia. Trump’s legal team has also said it plans a lawsuit in the state, but has not provided details.
Trump’s accusations have continued to ignite his hard-core Republican base.
Hundreds of supporters rallied Saturday at the Atlanta state house, with video posted online showing speakers denouncing the media for calling Biden the winner of the election, as well as state Republican leaders for certifying. the results.
Policemen in riot gear were deployed to separate them from counter-protesters who gathered nearby.
The General Services Administration, led by a Trump appointee, has failed to acknowledge Biden’s victory, preventing his team from gaining access to government office space and funds normally provided to an incoming administration before the Day. of the Inauguration on January 20.
Critics say Trump’s delay and refusal to concede have serious implications for national security and the fight against the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 255,000 Americans.
Biden, who has denounced Trump’s attempt to reverse the election results as “totally irresponsible,” spent Saturday meeting with transition advisers and attending church.
Trump participated in a virtual summit of the 20 largest economies in the world and then went golfing at his club in Sterling, Virginia.
