Lawsuits Challenging Presidential Election Results Continue to Fail
Particularly Concentrated in Michigan
Claims of 'Election Fraud' Intensify
U.S. President Donald Trump held a press conference on November 13 (local time) in the White House Rose Garden to explain the achievements of the White House's vaccine development team, the "Operation Warp Speed." [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] U.S. President Donald Trump continues to attempt to overturn the presidential election results. With the deadline for confirming the electors approaching, he is trying various methods to reverse the election outcome after successive defeats in election-related lawsuits.
According to U.S. media including The Wall Street Journal on the 19th (local time), as the deadline for confirming electors approaches, President Trump's camp is intensifying its offensive.
President Trump's team is particularly focusing on Michigan. Michigan is a state where President-elect Biden leads Trump by 157,000 votes. Trump invited Republican Mike Shirkey, the Michigan Senate Majority Leader, and Lee Chatfield, the Speaker of the House, to the White House for a meeting scheduled on the afternoon of the 20th. The Associated Press explained, "If the president succeeds in persuading the state election board not to certify Biden's votes, the legislature (state assembly) would select the electors."
On the evening of the 17th, Trump even directly called a Republican member of the Wayne County ballot counting observers committee in Michigan. Although the Wayne County members initially agreed to recognize Biden's victory, after receiving the president's call, they reversed their position the next day.
In Arizona, signals of delayed vote certification are emerging in counties supporting Trump. The strategy of Trump's legal team is not to focus on the electors but to have the Republican-controlled state legislatures select pro-Trump electors.
The level of 'election fraud' claims is also escalating. Utilizing the entire legal team including personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, they held a press conference to assert conspiracy theories about election fraud. Trump's legal counsel Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell also attended this event.
At a press conference held at the Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters in Washington, Giuliani raised issues of election fraud in places where Biden won, such as Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia.
He said, "These fraudsters cannot steal the election from the American people. The people elected Trump. They did not elect Biden," adding, "Biden is ahead because fraudulent votes and illegal ballots were allowed."
Trump supporters have been spreading claims on social media that election fraud occurred in places where Dominion Voting Systems machines were used, but The Washington Post pointed out that these claims were not made before the presidential election.
Meanwhile, President Trump is also conducting internal purges. On the evening of the 17th, Trump announced on Twitter that he would dismiss Christopher Krebs, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency at the Department of Homeland Security, who did not join the allegations of election fraud. He also attacked Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican who acknowledged Biden's victory, on Twitter, and pressured Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to agree with the election fraud claims via phone and Twitter.
Local media expressed concern over President Trump's all-out attempts to overturn the election results by any means.
The New York Times (NYT) criticized it as "an unprecedented act in U.S. history to use presidential powers to overturn election results," and the Associated Press reported, "After successive losses in lawsuits, President Trump's camp is making frantic attempts to reverse the results."
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