2 Michigan lawmakers unswayed by president
Trump called meeting with GOP leadership
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump summoned Michigan’s Republican leadership — including the Senate majority leader and House speaker — to the Oval Office on Friday, but his pleas to Michigan lawmakers to overturn the will of their constituents appeared to have left them unswayed.
In a joint statement after the White House meeting, Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield said allegations of fraud should be investigated but indicated they were unmoved by Trump’s claims thus far.
“We have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan and as legislative leaders, we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding Michigan’s electors, just as we have said throughout this election,” they said.
“The candidates who win the most votes win elections and Michigan’s electoral votes,” they added, saying they used the meeting with Trump to press him for more pandemic aid money for their state.
The president on Friday again claimed victory, declaring as an aside during a White House announcement on drug pricing, “I won, by the way, but you know, we’ll find that out.”
Rick Hasen, an election law expert and professor, wrote that there would be “rioting” in the streets if an effort was made to set aside the vote in Michigan, calling it tantamount to an attempted coup.
Trump’s roughly hourlong meeting with the Michigan legislators came days after he personally called two local canvassing board officials who had refused to certify the results in Wayne County, Michigan’s most populous county and one that overwhelmingly favored Biden. The two GOP officials eventually agreed to certify the results. But following Trump’s call, they said they had second thoughts.
The Board of State Canvassers is to meet Monday to certify the statewide outcome and it was unclear whether Republican members of that panel would similarly balk.
As he departed Detroit for Washington on Friday morning, Shirkey was swarmed by activists bearing signs that read “Respect the Vote” and “Protect Democracy.”
Chatfield tweeted before the meeting with Trump: “No matter the party, when you have an opportunity to meet with the President of the United States, of course you take it. I won’t apologize for that.”
Trump’s effort to set aside the Michigan vote was sure to fail. Experts on Michigan election law said the Board of State Canvassers’ authority was limited in scope.
“Their duties are to receive the canvass and certify the canvass, that’s it,” said John Pirich, a former assistant attorney general who teaches at Michigan State University College of Law. “They have absolutely no power to investigate allegations, theories or any halfbrained kind of arguments that are being thrown around.”
Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer could seek a court order forcing board members to certify the election and could remove those who refused, said Steve Liedel, another election attorney.