President Donald Trump who checked futile last stand to subvert Biden’s win faces a new set back as Republican legislators in Michigan appear to undercut his efforts to swing the electoral vote his favor in the swing state. Two lawmakers after a WH meeting said vowed to follow “normal process” in validating the vote and not seek to undo President-elect’s projected victory in the state.
Earlier in the day, Trump lost Georgia recount by a razor-thin margin. The Democrat has now cemented his place in WH and is due to take office on Jan 20, 2020 as the 46th President of United States. Biden’s transition team charted out his plan for the first 100 days in office. Meanwhile, Trump after maintaining the bogus voter fraud narrative during a White House announcement on drug pricing dropped in a mention of his falsely claimed victory status: “I won, by the way, but you know, we’ll find that out,” he said.
After a series of courtroom defeats where his team’s petitions were tossed out over the systemic rigging claims, Trump’s apparent strategy was to persuade Republican-controlled legislatures in Michigan and other swing states to set aside the will of people and unfairly turn the electoral college vote his favor.
“The entire election, frankly, in all the swing states should be overturned and the legislatures should make sure that the electors are selected for Trump,” Sidney Powell, one of Trump’s lawyers, told the Fox Business Network on Thursday.
Michigan’s Republican state lawmakers, the senate majority leader, Mike Shirkey and the house speaker Lee Chatfield visited WH on Friday upon President’s request. Shirkey had to hear the chants of protesters “Certify the results!” and “Where is the evidence of fraud?” at Reagan international airport in Washington.
However, following WH meeting, both Republicans in a joint statement assured the public that they will abide by the electoral process.
“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,” the pair said in a joint statement. “Michigan’s certification process should be a deliberate process free from threats and intimidation.”
“The candidates who win the most votes win elections and Michigan’s electoral votes,” they added giving an apparent blow to Trump’s efforts.
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton
“The president could be calling Republican legislators and others to the White House to try and squeeze them,” said Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton whom he sacked in Sep 2019. “Republicans at all levels — state, county, election boards, legislatures — must resist this political pressure.”
What will the Republican do next?
Leveraging power of office, Trump, besides contacting Michigan legislators has attempted to invite fellow Republican lawmakers from the wing state of Pennsylvania to WH for a meeting on similar agenda. Counties in the Rust Blet state and Michigan are set to certify their vote counts on Monday.
After the recently failed hurtles, it now looks clear that Trump and his legal team cannot do much to flip Pennsylvania and Michigan and will face the same outcome as they did in Georgia. Even if they managed to overturn the results in the two states, the Republican would still need to subvert Biden’s win in one other state in order to beat the Democrat in US Electoral College vote.
“It’s an abuse of office, it’s an open attempt to intimidate election officials, it’s absolutely appalling,” Bob Bauer, a legal adviser to the Biden campaign, told reporters.
The response from White House
In her first news conference on Friday since Oct 1, 2020 press secretary Kayleigh McEnany refused to recognized Trump’s democratic rival’s triumph. The secretary instead launched a scathing criticism of media outlets and Democrats, alleging them of hypocrisy for attempting to delegitimize Republican’s victory four years back.
“While in 2016 President Trump became the duly elected president, many sought to undermine him, discredit him, de-legitimize him and deny his victory. There were no calls for unity, there were no calls for healing.
“So, while every legal vote is counted let us not forget the inexcusable transition, or lack thereof, that President Trump had to endure in 2016 and for years into his presidency.”
Georgia Recounting Results
Following a manual audit, President-elect on Friday bagged a narrow win in Georgia and was officially certified on Friday by the Republican official who headed by hand recount.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a self-proclaimed, Trump ally, said: “Like other Republicans. I’m disappointed, our candidate didn’t win Georgia’s electoral votes. I live by the motto that numbers don’t lie.”
President-elect Biden edged Trump out by 12,670 votes and emerged as the first Democratic presidential victor in Georgia since Bill Clinton wrapped up his win in 1992.
