DESPERATE DON MICH. MASHED!
TRUMP’S CRY FOR POLS TO NIX VOTE FALLS FLAT
President Trump brought his desperate bid to overturn the election to a troubling new level on Friday as he summoned a couple of Republican leaders from Michigan to the White House in apparent hopes of convincing them to unilaterally subvert Joe Biden’s victory in the battleground state.
Trump’s closed-door meeting with Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirley and House Speaker Lee Chatfield came as the president’s campaign and allies mount a long-shot effort to strong-arm GOP legislators in several pro-Biden states to set aside the will of voters in favor of picking Trump-backing electors to the Electoral College.
Trump is citing baseless accusations of mass voter fraud in pursuing the convoluted, undemocratic effort, which is highly unlikely to succeed.
Shirley and Chatfield, who were greeted by throngs of protesters as they arrived in the capital, signaled after the meeting with Trump that they won’t get onboard with any attempt to upend the vote.
“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,” the Michigan Republicans said in a joint statement. “Michigan’s certification process should be a deliberate process free from threats and intimidation.”
Biden won Michigan by more than 154,000 votes — a far wider margin than when Trump clinched the state in the 2016 election. Michigan was one of several battleground states that flipped for Biden in this year’s election and brought him to victory in the race for the White House.
But Trump continues to claim that Biden only won Michigan and the other battlegrounds because of a deluge of illegally cast mail-in ballots.
There’s no evidence for Trump’s paranoid claims.
The Trump administration’s own top cybersecurity official, election officials from both parties in all 50 states and international observers have affirmed that the Nov. 3 contest was secure and not hampered by widespread irregularities or fraud.
Meanwhile, judges across the country have dismissed lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign seeking to invalidate millions of ballots over the unfounded accusations, possibly explaining why the president is seeking to bring his pitch directly to state legislators.
After his meeting with Shirley and Chatfield, the lame-duck president continued to sound like an inaccurate, broken record during an appearance in the White House briefing room.
“I won,” Trump said falsely. “But you know, we’ll find that out. Almost 74 million votes.”
Trump then left the briefing room without taking any questions.
Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed Trump’s unusual meeting with the state legislators was nothing out of the ordinary.
“This is not an advocacy meeting,” McEnany told reporters in a briefing. “He routinely meets with lawmakers from all across the country.”
Despite McEnany’s comments, Trump has rarely met in private with state legislators during his presidency.
The Friday sit-down also marked one of Trump’s first meetings since he lost the Nov. 3 election to Biden.
When asked by a reporter why Trump is trying to overturn the election, McEnany called the
journalist an “activist” before leaving the room.
Trump’s Michigan effort — which he’s trying to replicate in several other states — hinges on the state Legislature bigfooting its election-certifying canvassing board.
However, the Legislature can only step in if the canvassing board refuses to certify Biden’s victory when it meets this Monday. The board, which is made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, would likely face court orders to certify the results if it initially refuses.
The meddling in state election processes is viewed by experts as an all but impossible last-ditch attempt by a president who’s having a hard time accepting defeat.
Biden trounces Trump in electoral votes by a 306-232 margin, meaning that the president would have to subvert election results in several states to even have a chance. The Electoral College delegates will meet on Dec. 14 to officially affirm Biden’s victory.
Though Trump’s scramble to overturn the election is deemed all but impossible, there’s bipartisan concern that it could cause lasting damage to American democracy.
“Having failed to make even a plausible case of widespread fraud or conspiracy before any court of law, the president has now resorted to overt pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election,” said Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the only Republican who voted to remove Trump from office during his impeachment trial. “It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American president.”
While Trump continued to engage in dubious efforts to challenge the election, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris spent the day with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at the president-elect’s home in Delaware.
Biden — who was also celebrating his 78th birthday — told the two top congressional Democrats that he will back their effort to pass another COVID-19 stimulus package in the lame-duck session before he takes office on Jan. 20, according to a statement provided by his transition team.
“That package should include resources to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, relief for working families and small businesses, support for state and local governments trying to keep frontline workers on the payroll, expanded unemployment insurance and affordable health care for millions of families,” the statement said.