Trump Calls On GOP Legislatures To Overturn Biden’s Victory

by Charlotte RuhlNovember 22, 2020, 2:18 pmDaily Digest, News, News Feed >

After being handed a series of legal defeats that have made his chances at securing a second term even more slim, President Donald Trump is turning to a new plan: calling upon Republican-led legislatures to overturn election results in states that President-elect Joe Biden won.

“Why is Joe Biden so quickly forming a Cabinet when my investigators have found hundreds of thousands of fraudulent votes, enough to “flip” at least four States, which in turn is more than enough to win the Election?” Trump said, despite his team’s repeated failure to provide any such evidence for the so-called “fraudulent votes.”

Trump’s comment came after his latest lawsuit defeat in Pennsylvania, where U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann issued a stinging opinion in which he stated that the Trump team presented no evidence of election fraud or misconduct. With the lawsuit route no longer looking promising, Trump is turning to a longshot scenario where election results are not certified and Republican-controlled statehouses in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia intervene to declare him the winner.

In order for this plan to be successful, several unprecedented legal steps would need to occur. These Republican-led legislatures would first need to agree to overturn their state’s popular vote and appoint Trump electors when the Electoral College meets on December 14. In Pennsylvania and Michigan, this plan would be met by vetoes from Democratic governors, so the lawmakers would also have to secure a legal determination that they hold the sole power to appoint electors — a premise that has never before been tested.

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However, GOP legislative leaders from those states have not expressed support of this approach. Specifically, members of the Michigan state legislature, who Trump summoned to the White House on Friday, said they have no intention of overturning the votes. Leaders in Pennsylvania have also stated that they would not step in to try to overturn the election results.