Few wins as Trump hunts for fraud
U.S. president’s team has yet to show evidence of voter irregularities
PHILADELPHIA— During a Pennsylvania court hearing this week on one of the many election lawsuits brought by U.S. President Donald Trump, a judge asked a campaign lawyer whether he had found any signs of fraud found among the 592 ballots challenged. The answer was no. “Accusing people of fraud is a pretty big step,” said the lawyer, Jonathan Goldstein. “We’re all just trying to get an election done.”
Trump has not been so cautious, insisting without evidence the election was stolen from him even when election officials nationwide from both parties say there has been no conspiracy.
On Wednesday, Trump took aim at Philadelphia, the Democratic stronghold that helped push President-elect Joe Biden over the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the race. The president accused a local Republican election official, Al Schmidt, of ignoring “a mountain of corruption & dishonesty.” Twitter added a label that said the election fraud claim is disputed.
Trump loyalists have filed at least 15 legal challenges in Pennsylvania alone in an effort to reclaim the state’s 20 electoral votes. There is action, too, in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan.
In court, his lawyers must walk a precarious line between advocating for their client and upholding their professional oath.
Legal ethicists and pro-democracy activists have questioned the participation of lawyers in this quest, as Trump clings to power and presidentelect Joe Biden rolls out his agenda.
“This may be an attempt to appease the ego in chief, but there are real world consequences for real people that come out of that,” said Loyola Law School Prof. Justin Levitt, a former Justice Department elections official. “The attempt to soothe the president’s ego is not a victimless crime.”
Schmidt told CBS’s “60 Minutes” his office has received death threats simply for counting votes.
“From the inside looking out, it feels all very deranged,” Schmidt said in an interview that aired Sunday. “Counting votes cast on or before election day by eligible voters is not corruption. It is not cheating. It is democracy.”
Untold voters, however, are accepting Trump’s claim about a rigged election and are donating to his legal fund.
Nationally, the strategy is being run by Trump allies such as Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney; political operative David Bossie, who is not an attorney; and Jay Sekulow, a lead lawyer during the president’s impeachment trial.
Some of the suits filed on Trump’s behalf appear to be hastily thrown together, with spelling errors (“ballet” for “ballot”), procedural mistakes and little to back up their claims. Judges have been skeptical.
In Michigan, Judge Cynthia Stephens dismissed one filing as “inadmissible hearsay within hearsay.” When Trump’s lawyers appealed, the next court kicked the filing back as “defective.”
The campaign has so far scored just one small victory, allowing their observers to stand a little closer to election workers processing the mail-in ballots in Philadelphia.