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Two Michigan state legislators addressed the White House on Friday as President Donald Trump made an extraordinary and surely futile attempt to block Joe Biden’s victory in the battlefield state and subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election. .
The state has yet to certify its results for Biden, who won Michigan by more than 154,000 votes, according to unofficial results.
Alex Brandon / AP
President Donald Trump summoned Michigan Republican Legislative Leader Lee Chatfield (right) to the White House for a meeting in an attempt to uncertify Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in Michigan (File photo).
Trump and his allies have been trying to convince state judges and lawmakers to sideline the popular vote and swap Republican-chosen voters.
The US president personally called two county canvassing board officials earlier this week who had refused to certify the results in Wayne County, the most populous county in the state and one that overwhelmingly favored Biden.
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The two Republican officials eventually agreed to certify the results, but after Trump’s call, they later said they had thought better of it.
As he left Detroit for Washington on Friday morning, State Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey was swarmed by activists holding signs reading, “Respect the Vote” and “Protect Democracy.”
House Speaker Lee Chatfield was also heading to DC, and protesters were also expected in Washington.
Some Michigan lawmakers have reported being inundated with calls and emails from Trump supporters demanding they intervene.
The Republican House caucus has prepared a 732-word stock response that it rejects, stating that state law clearly requires voters to be nominated by the party that wins the most votes.
“The law does not allow the nomination or approval of alternate voters,” the email says.
Michigan’s effort is one of multiple last-minute tactics that Trump and his allies are using to challenge defeat.
David Eggert / AP
Trump is expected to try to convince Michigan Senate Republican Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, left, and House Speaker Lee Chatfield, to drop the popular vote and swap elected voters. by the Republicans.
His team also suggested in a legal challenge that Pennsylvania overruled the popular vote there and pressured county officials in Arizona to delay the certification of vote counts. In the White House, discussions were taking place about extending an invitation to Pennsylvania’s Republican legislative leadership as well.
Election law experts see it all as the last and last gasp of the Trump campaign and say Biden is sure to enter the Oval Office in January. But there is great concern that Trump’s effort is causing real damage to public faith in the integrity of the American election.
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, one of Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, accused Trump of resorting to “open pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and annul the election.” Romney added: “It is difficult to imagine a worse and more undemocratic action by a sitting US president.”
Trump’s own election security agency has declared the 2020 presidential election to have been the safest in history. Days after that statement was issued, Trump fired the agency leader.
Increasingly desperate and erratic movements have no reasonable chance of changing the outcome of the 2020 elections, in which Biden has now received more votes than any other presidential candidate in history and has obtained the necessary 270 Electoral College votes. to win.
But the Republican president’s constant barrage of unsubstantiated claims, his work to personally influence local officials who certify the votes, and his allies’ refusal to admit he lost are likely to have a lasting negative impact on the country. Legions of his followers do not believe he has lost.
“It’s about trying to establish the conditions where half the country believes there are only two chances, either win or the election is stolen,” said Justin Levitt, a constitutional law scholar and professor at Loyola Law School. “And that is not a democracy.”
The two Republican pollsters in Michigan’s Wayne County said in a statement Wednesday night that they were not confident the election would be fair and impartial. “There has been a clear lack of transparency throughout the process,” they said, but there has been no evidence of wrongdoing or fraud in Michigan, election officials said.
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney for US President Donald Trump, promoted electoral fraud conspiracies during a 90-minute press conference on Friday.
Trump’s allies have focused on the way the president’s initial leadership in Michigan and some other states on election night faded as subsequent votes came, presenting it as evidence of something dire.
But a massive influx of mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic leaned heavily toward Biden, who encouraged his supporters to vote by mail, and those votes were the last to be counted. So it seemed like Trump had an advantage when in fact he didn’t.
Michigan’s four-member state canvassing board, made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, is expected to meet Monday (local time) to determine the election results after receiving the totals for all 83 counties.
If you don’t certify Biden’s victory, a court will likely order the members to do so.
The Michigan Legislature would be asked to select voters if Trump succeeds in convincing the board not to certify the results.
Biden’s legal advisor, Bob Bauer, said Trump’s efforts are damaging to democracy but have no chance of success, although he did not go so far as to characterize their legality.
“It is an abuse of power,” he said. It’s an open attempt to intimidate election officials, it’s absolutely appalling … It’s pathetic too. “
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
Despite claims by Rudy Giuliani and the Trump campaign, US election officials have repeatedly said there was no widespread fraud.
Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and others held a press conference Thursday to allege a widespread Democratic election conspiracy involving multiple states and shady voting machines. But election officials across the country have repeatedly said there was no widespread fraud.
There was a flurry of activity in the battlefield states, none of that promising for Trump.
In Pennsylvania, where the Trump campaign is challenging the election results in federal court, a legal team led by Giuliani suggested in a filing on Wednesday (local time) that the judge order the Republican-led state legislature to choose. delegates to the Electoral College, potentially throwing the state’s 20 electoral votes to Trump.
A judge canceled an evidentiary hearing in the case.
In Arizona, the Republican Party is pressuring county officials to delay certifying the results. The Republican Party lost a bid Thursday to postpone certification in Maricopa County, the most populous county in the state, and officials are expected to certify election results on Friday (local time).
In northwestern Arizona, Mohave County officials postponed their certification until next week. Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes and Maricopa County put him on top.
In Georgia, where officials have been auditing the results of the presidential race, Trump has repeatedly attacked the process, calling it “a joke.”
He has also made repeated incorrect claims that Georgia election officials cannot verify signatures on absentee ballot envelopes. In fact, Georgia requires that they be controlled.
The Associated Press called Biden the winner of Georgia and its 16 electoral votes Thursday night.
Associated Press writers Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston, Kate Brumback and Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta, Alexandra Jaffe in Wilmington, and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this report.
