Trump continues to cut Biden’s lead in Arizona

PHOENIX – Donald Trump narrowed his gap with Joe Biden in Arizona to fewer than 30,000 votes Friday, a pickup of about 17,000 in the past 24 hours.

But the latest data dump Friday night from Maricopa County suggests there may be no way for the president to pick up the votes he needs to take the state’s 11 electoral votes.

Of the 73,038 votes just added to the mix, 38,388 went to Trump versus 31,433 for Biden, with another 2,111 for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen.

But that gives the incumbent less than 53% of the total new votes. Trump needs to pick up 58% of the votes that have been coming in to overtake the Democrat.

And there are just about 165,000 votes left to be counted, meaning Trump needs to get about 95,700 of these to win – some 10,000 more than he is on pace to pick up.

GOP officials are not conceding anything, insisting there is still a path for the president to keep his office. But they also acknowledged they are weighing legal options if the final tally does not put the president over the top here.

At a press briefing earlier Friday, they did not identify anything they contend is being done wrong. Nor would they spell out any legal theory they have to challenge the results if the final tally does not go their way.

Instead, Matt Whitaker, a former acting U.S. attorney general who now is working with the Trump campaign, said it is counting on everything working out the way the GOP expects without the need for litigation.

State GOP Chair Kelli Ward also said she is preaching calm even as Republicans gather nightly at Maricopa County offices where votes are being tallied, chanting “count the votes.’’ Ward and other party officials also have been in attendance.

“My message there, where I said a few words, is, ‘Stay focused, stay positive, and we are doing everything on the ground that we possibly can to make sure that our elections have integrity,’ ‘’ Ward said.

But Ward sidestepped questions about comments by elected Republicans who have taken a decidedly more combative tone.

That includes newly elected state Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, who posted a Facebook message saying what is happening to Trump “is a dirty coup d’etat.’’

“I honestly can’t believe we are living in such a banana republic where a few cities can steal an election in the dead of night with fraudulent ballots and fake voters,’’ she wrote.

Rogers did not return a call seeking comment or explanation.

“I haven’t seen any of the statements,’’ Ward responded. The same response came from Congressman Andy Biggs who also was part of the Friday press briefing, and from Whitaker.

“Obviously, anything we say about the administration of this election I think we’ll speak in court filings at the appropriate time,’’ Whitaker added.

And what are the legal theories and issues being considered?

“Unfortunately, I can’t talk about the specifics of what we’re looking at,’’ Whitaker responded.

“We are getting reports from people both in Maricopa County and around the state,’’ he continued, without providing any details of those complaints. Instead, Whitaker said, the attorneys for the campaign are “doing our due-diligence’’ on those reports.

“And if we see any kind of systemic irregularity, those things we need to follow up on, we are pursuing those to see if ultimately we need to make sure that this is brought to light,’’ he said. “We have nothing to announce today.’’