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Trump Team’s Allegations Of Widespread Fraud Are Not Supported By Their Own Lawsuits

Trump Team’s Allegations Of Widespread Fraud Are Not Supported By Their Own Lawsuits
Mary Margaret Olohan
November 5, 2020 4:47 PM ET
  • Lawsuits filed by President Donald Trump’s campaign do not include allegations of voter fraud, though pundits and Trump campaign members insist voter fraud is occurring throughout the United States.
  • The Trump campaign said it filed lawsuits in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and may file a similar suit in Arizona.
  • “Democrats know the only way they can win this election is to cheat in Pennsylvania,” Eric Trump said Wednesday in Philadelphia. “And we’ve seen it from day one.”

Election lawsuits from President Donald Trump’s campaign do not include evidence of voter fraud, though pundits and Trump campaign members insist fraud is occurring in multiple battleground states.

The Trump campaign filed suits in Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania Wednesday and may potentially file a similar suit in Arizona. Each of the lawsuits seeks to halt the counting of mail-ballots until what it calls “meaningful access” is granted to campaign operatives at ballot counting locations in order to review previously opened ballots and verify the tallies.

Missing from most of the lawsuits are specific claims of fraudulent ballots or activity that Trump surrogates and the president himself have alleged in recent days.

The Michigan lawsuit states that Trump will suffer “an irreparable constitutional injury” should Michigan Chief Elections Officer Jocelyn Benson “fail to ensure that Michigan complies with Michigan law allowing challengers to meaningfully monitor the conduct of the election.”

The Georgia lawsuit centers around how ballots are stored and says that ballots that were received after 7 p.m. on Election Day should be discounted, according to the AJC.

“Failing to ensure that absentee ballots received after the deadline are stored in a manner to ensure that such ballots are not inadvertently or intentionally counted, as required under Georgia law, harms the interests of the Trump Campaign and President Trump because it could lead to the dilution of legal votes cast in support of President Trump,” the petition said, according to the AJC.

Georgia’s lawsuit does include an affidavit in which a poll watcher said he saw ballots being handled incorrectly, the Hill reported. A judge reportedly dismissed this lawsuit Thursday after the poll watcher could not provide evidence of his claims.

“The Court finds that there is no evidence that the ballots referenced in the petition were received after 7:00 p.m. on election day, thereby making those ballots invalid. Additionally, there is no evidence that the Chatham County Board of Elections or the Chatham County Board of Registrars has failed to comply with the law,” the judge’s order said, according to Savannah Now.

The Trump campaign also filed legal actions in Pennsylvania seeking to make sure that first-time voters quickly submit proof-of-identification that is missing and to protect Republican poll watchers, according to the WSJ.

A Pennsylvania appellate court ordered Thursday that the Trump campaign be allowed to observe the remaining ballot counting process — an order that reversed a prior ruling ordering Trump campaign officials to observe ballot counters from six feet away due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Nevada and Pennsylvania state Republican parties also filed similar suits Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Trump campaign filed a recount motion in Wisconsin Wednesday.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign accused the Trump campaign of filing lawsuits without basis.

“I want to emphasize that for their purposes these lawsuits don’t have to have merit,” said Biden campaign attorney Bob Bauer, according to the Associated Press, as he accused the Trump campaign of “continually alleging irregularities, failures of the system and fraud without any basis.”

“That’s not the purpose. … It is to create an opportunity for them to message falsely about what’s taking place in the electoral process,” Bauer added.

But in a Thursday call with reporters, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien promised that the campaign will continue to be on the lookout for voter fraud, adding that “every night the president goes to bed with a lead,” but awakes to find that new votes “are mysteriously found in a sack.”

While the lawsuits seek greater access to ballot counting and challenge the eligibility of late mail-in-ballots, Trump allies repeatedly hype allegations of widespread fraud and attempts by Democrats to steal the presidential election.

“This is a concerted effort of the crooks that run the Democrat party,” Trump campaign advisor Rudy Giuliani said during a press conference on Wednesday.

“It is very, very sad that we’re here in the city that’s really the birthplace of our democracy,” Giuliani said. “And this is among one of the most anti-democratic things I’ve ever seen or encountered.”

He continued: “And it’s not just here in Philadelphia, this is going on all over the country. We have filed a lawsuit. The lawsuit actually required that when these mail in ballots, that you know are highly suspicious anyway, this form of balloting has always been considered the most prone to fraud.”

“Democrats are trying to cheat,” Eric Trump said in Philadelphia Wednesday.

“Democrats know the only way they can win this election is to cheat in Pennsylvania,” he added. “And we’ve seen it from day one.”

Project Veritas’ James O’Keefe alleged Wednesday evening that a whistleblower in Michigan was told to separate ballots “from standard letter mail so they can hand stamp them with YESTERDAY’S DATE & put them through.” 

Donald Trump Jr. retweeted the allegations from Project Veritas, asking: “Where is the DOJ???”

Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk tweeted a video of someone boarding up the windows of an absentee ballot location reportedly in Detroit, asking: “Why would Detroit’s absentee ballot counting center be covering up their windows? Where is the transparency? Need to swarm MI with more Trump Poll Watchers immediately!”

“Why does it seem like ‘found’ ballots always reliably swing for Democrats?” Kirk asked in another tweet Wednesday. The tweet was flagged by Twitter as “disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.”

Conservative author and speaker Eric Metaxas tweeted, “THIS IS THE TIME TO DRAIN THE SWAMP. And it will be drained both WHILE the election is being adjudicated and is voter fraud uncovered — and AFTER the election.” 

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