Trump files fresh suit against Biden’s win
washington — President Donald Trump’s campaign pushed ahead on Wednesday with its long-shot litigation strategy to try to upend Joe Biden’s victory in the November 3 US election by filing a lawsuit in Michigan even as the former vice-president focused on laying the foundation for his incoming administration.
The Republican president’s team went to federal court to try to block Michigan, a Midwestern battleground state that he won in 2016 but lost to Biden in media projections, from certifying the election results. Trump trailed by roughly 148,000 votes, or 2.6 percentage points, in unofficial Michigan vote totals.
Trump has declined to concede the election to the Democrat Biden, instead lodging a flurry of lawsuits in pivotal states to try to back up his unsupported claims of widespread voting fraud. The Michigan lawsuit also made allegations of misconduct in the voting. Jake Rollow, a
It does not change the truth: Michigan’s elections were conducted fairly...and the results are an accurate reflection of the will of the people
Jake Rollow
Michigan Department of State
spokesman for the Michigan Department of State, said in a statement the Trump campaign was promoting false claims to erode public confidence in Michigan’s elections. “It does not change the truth: Michigan’s elections were conducted fairly, securely, transparently, and the results are an accurate reflection of the will of the people,” Rollow said.
Republican resistance does not change the dynamic at all in what we’re able to do Joe Biden, President-elect
Vowing “to get right to work,” President-elect Joe Biden shrugged off President Donald Trump’s fierce refusal to accept the election outcome as “inconsequential,” even as Democrats elsewhere warned the Republican president’s actions were dangerous.
Raising unsupported claims of voter fraud, Trump has blocked the incoming president from receiving intelligence briefings and withheld federal funding intended to help facilitate the transfer of power. Trump’s resistance, backed by senior Republicans in Washington and across the country, could also prevent background investigations and security clearances for prospective staff and access to federal agencies to discuss transition planning.
As some Democrats and former Republican officials warned of serious consequences, Biden sought to lower the national temperature on Tuesday as he addressed reporters from a makeshift transition headquarters near his home in downtown Wilmington.
Biden described Trump’s position as little more than an “embarrassing” mark on the outgoing president’s legacy, while predicting that Republicans on Capitol Hill would eventually accept the reality of Biden’s victory. The Republican resistance, Biden said, “does not change the dynamic at all in what we’re able to do”.
Additional intelligence briefings “would be useful”, Biden added, but “we don’t see anything slowing us down”.
The measured comments come as Biden prepares to confront duelling national crises that actively threaten the health, safety and economic security of millions of Americans irrespective of the political debate. Coronavirus infections, hospitalisations and deaths are surging, the economy faces the prospect of long-term damage and the nation’s political and cultural divides may be worsening.
Biden is betting that his lowkey approach and bipartisan outreach — a sharp reversal from the current president’s style — will help him govern effectively on Day One. But just a little over two months before Biden will be inaugurated, Trump and his allies seemed determined to make his transition as difficult as possible.
From his Twitter account on Tuesday, Trump again raised unsupported claims of “massive ballot counting abuse” and predicted he would ultimately win the race he has already lost. His allies on Capitol Hill, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have encouraged the president’s baseless accusations. Trump’s tweets were swiftly flagged by the social media network as disputed claims about election fraud.
There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. In fact, election officials from both political parties have stated publicly that the election went well, and international observers confirmed there were no serious irregularities. —