Trump faces long odds in challenging state vote counts

By MARYCLAIRE DALE
Yesterday

Republican surrogates for President Donald Trump resumed their legal fight Monday to try to stop the vote count in key battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Michigan, but faced long odds given the Electoral College tally and recent court rulings that found no evidence of widespread vote fraud.

While some Republican officials invoked the Trump mantra that only “legal votes” should be counted, others emerged to counter the campaign narrative and urge voters, and perhaps the president, to support the results.

“The process has not failed our country in more than 200 years, and it is not going to fail our country this year,” said Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who won her reelection bid and has congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his victory.


Still, Trump lawyers soldiered on six days after the election, just as personal counsel Rudy Giuliani had promised they would during a surreal weekend press conference outside a landscaping storefront in northeast Philadelphia.

Giuliani denounced the city’s vote count — which fell about 4-1 for Biden, giving the Democrat the win Saturday in both Pennsylvania and the U.S. election — as “extremely troubling.”

Across the country, Republicans have complained about problems with the signatures, secrecy envelopes and postal marks on mail-in ballots, the inability of their poll watchers to scrutinize them and the extensions granted for mail-in ballots to arrive. They filed another lawsuit Monday evening in federal court in Pennsylvania.

Attorney General William Barr on Monday authorized federal prosecutors across the U.S. to pursue “substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities” before the election is certified.

His action, described in a memo to U.S. attorneys across the country, gives prosecutors the ability to go around longstanding Justice Department policy that normally would prohibit such overt actions before the election is formally certified.

Judges have largely rejected the Republican challenges over the past week, when the campaign sought to interrupt the vote count as it leaned toward Biden. Trump has yet to concede the election, even as the former vice president claimed victory and got to work on his transition plans.

At the U.S. Supreme Court, 10 Republican state attorneys general filed an amicus brief Monday to support a challenge to Pennsylvania's decision to count mail-in ballots that arrived through Friday. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court had agreed with Democratic state officials who wanted to extend the deadline amid concerns about Postal Service delays and the COVID-19 pandemic. The attorneys general say the court usurped a power reserved for state lawmakers.

The U.S. Supreme Court had declined to fast-track the challenge, but the vote was 4-4, and three justices expressed reservations. Republicans now hope to try again with new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the court. The attorneys general believe the extra time meant "unscrupulous actors could attempt to influence a close Presidential election.”

Still, it's far from clear that enough ballots came in after Election Day to change the results of the presidential race in Pennsylvania.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, asked Monday for any tangible evidence of wrongdoing, said Republicans were trying to gather affidavits from witnesses.

“All we are asking for is truth, transparency and sunlight here,” McEnany said.

Earlier in the day, an anti-abortion law center in Michigan filed suit to complain about vote counting procedures in Wayne County. An appeals court in Michigan, meanwhile, asked the Trump campaign to refile a case submitted last week, saying the appeal was incomplete.

And in Arizona, the Trump campaign asked in a lawsuit filed Saturday for the right to inspect thousands of in-person ballots filled out on Election Day in the Phoenix area, alleging that poll workers had mishandled them.

In Georgia — where Biden has a small lead over Trump but the race remains too early to call — a state election official pledged Monday to investigate any ballot problems they find.

“When the margins are this tight, every little thing matters,” said Gabriel Sterling, who led the state’s implementation of a new voting system for the secretary of state’s office.

Still, he expressed frustration over efforts to shake the public’s faith in the electoral system.

“The facts are the facts, regardless of outcomes,” Sterling said.

___ Associated Press writers Kevin Freking in Washington, Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine, Kate Brumback in Atlanta, Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected to say the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed with state officials who wanted to extend the deadline to receive mail-in ballots, not who extended the deadline.

 

Oh fuck the one worst case of vote fraud found to date.

 

Fox News cuts off WH press secretary for repeating unsubstantiated fraudulent voter claims.

I guess they are listening to their lawyers.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...ews-cuts-off-kayleigh-mcenany-for-votes-spiel

Thinskin

 

.....and Trump defence lawyer.....oops sorry AG Barr has told prosecuters to investigate unsubstantiated election fraud accusationa prompting the head of the electiin crimes unit tò resign.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...arr-vote-irregularities-donald-trump-election

Thinskin

 

Good Ole deep state operative...Richard Pilger...the Elections Crime Branch Director.

Richard Pilger and Lois Lerner discussed potentially prosecuting tax-exempt organizations, specifically 501(c)(4) groups, involved in political activity. Weeks before the 2010 midterm elections, emails between the two explicitly mentioned the expansive database. Lerner asked Pilger what format for the database would be preferable to the FBI. Pilger, in turn, relayed this inquiry to the FBI and responded to Lerner: “Thanks Lois – FBI says Raw format is best because they can put it into their systems like excel.”[5]

In 2013, Pilger and Lerner were again colluding about targeting tax-exempt groups. In an email from Lerner to Nikole Flax, former chief of staff to IRS commissioner Steven Miller, Lerner wrote:[6][7]

“ I got a call today from Richard Pilger Director Elections Crimes Branch at DOJ. I know him from contacts from my days there. He wanted to know who at IRS the DOJ folk s [sic] could talk to about Sen. Whitehouse [sic] idea at the hearing that DOJ could piece together false statement cases about applicants who "lied" on their 1024s --saying they weren't planning on doing political activity, and then turning around and making large vis ible [sic] political expenditures. DOJ is feeling like it needs to respond, but want to talk to the right folks at IRS to see whether there are impediments from our side and what, if any damage this might do to IRS programs. I told him that sounded like we mi ght [sic] need several folks from IRS. (quote) ”
After Pilger, at the recommendation of a DOJ lawyer, refused to answer questions 34 times, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) subpoenaed the Department of Justice. Issa said, “The Department’s refusal to allow Mr. Pilger to testify about matters highly relevant to the Committee’s investigation unnecessarily delays and frustrates the Committee’s Constitutional oversight obligations."[8]
============================================================
These leftists operatives have gotten their hands caught in the cookie jar...now, we'll see how many cookies they have their dirty finger prints on.

 

I knew they would be left of you ace!

Let's face it......who isn't?

Thinskin

 

Here’s a hint.


Are the stores leaving their plywood up because Trump lost?

 

Strange how , the Democrats wanted no witnesses,
Very strange how do you don’t welcome a recount, hum
I also wonder why only Democrats can’t get to the voting booth on time , that’s very weird , Why are Democrat votes always counted last these are just crazy things lol lol lol lol lol lol lol

 

Sure.......5 million of them!

Thinskin

 

If there was voter fraud,how did Lindsey Grahan get reelected ?

 

Shooter has an ovservation.
In 2016 the despicables spewed about Russian interference and how the Russians stole the throne from Hillary and gave it to that pompous gas bag.

When pressed, they couldn't point to a single state, or for that matter, a single vote changed by Russian interference.
No matter.
Their proof of Russian interference turned out to be a "dossier" of lies, propaganda and smear produced for Clinton by a foreign agent in violation of election laws. That dossier was also used to spy on Trumps election campaign and as the basis for a wide reaching investigation that in the end failed to prove Trump colluded with the Russians.

Now we have President Trump demanding investigations, recounts and explanations for what can only be described as the most ........... incredible .......... election in our history. His demands are not only legal, there is a basis to question the Biden come from behind votes in so many states, but the despicables, fully aware of how allegations of election fraud can taint a presidency, scream there is no basis for investigation and Trump should just go home.

Sounds more and more to Shooter as if the Biden backers are saying "we stole it fair and square, let it go!"

 

You can't fix stupid. Or stupider.

 

Al Gore contested the election results of only one state in the Bush election for 37 days. We are at 7 days, with signed, sworn affidavits in several states, and every Libfuck in the nation is running around screaming like their heads are about to explode.
Wouldn't that be nice...

 

Awwwww, and courts are throwing challenges out right and left, while ratwingers keep crying foul.

 

An informed person would know that it's expected, that state courts (lower courts) would try to stamp out cases that make their state look culpable. This is always taken into account - except by the stupid and unknowledgeable Libfucks.

Welcome to the system! I hope your stay here is fun!

 

I'm enjoying the hell out of it.

 

Postal worker admits fabricating allegations of ballot tampering, officials say
Nov. 10, 2020 at 3:20 pm Updated Nov. 10, 2020 at 6:15 pm

A citizen deposits a ballot into a box at the county clerk’s office in Erie, Penn., on Oct. 15, 2020. (Washington Post photo by Bonnie Jo Mount).
The Washington Post

A Pennsylvania postal worker whose claims have been cited by top Republicans as potential evidence of widespread voting irregularities admitted to U.S. Postal Service investigators that he fabricated the allegations, according to three officials briefed on the investigation and a statement from a House congressional committee.

Richard Hopkins’s claim that a postmaster in Erie, Pa., instructed postal workers to backdate ballots mailed after Election Day was cited by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in a letter to the Justice Department calling for a federal investigation. Attorney General William Barr subsequently authorized federal prosecutors to open probes into credible allegations of voting irregularities and fraud, a reversal of long-standing Justice Department policy.

But on Monday, Hopkins, 32, told investigators from the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General that the allegations were not true, and he signed an affidavit recanting his claims, according to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee tweeted late Tuesday that the “whistleblower completely RECANTED.”

Hopkins did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The reversal comes as President Donald Trump has refused to concede to President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, citing unproven allegations about widespread voter fraud in an attempt to swing the results in his favor. Republicans held up Hopkins’s claims as among the most credible because he signed an affidavit swearing he overheard a supervisor instructing colleagues to backdate ballots mailed after Nov. 3.

The Trump campaign provided that affidavit to Graham, who in turn asked the Justice Department and FBI to launch an investigation.

The Trump campaign also cited reports of the allegation in a federal lawsuit filed Monday against Pennsylvania election officials that seeks to prevent them from certifying the states’ election results.

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The campaign, the Justice Department and Graham did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

The Erie postmaster, Rob Weisenbach, called the allegations “100% false” in a Facebook post and said they were made “by an employee that was recently disciplined multiple times.”

“The Erie Post Office did not back date any ballots,” Weisenbach wrote.

The Postal Service inspector general’s office informed members of Congress in a briefing Tuesday that Hopkins had recanted his allegations, according to a congressional aide. The investigators first interviewed Hopkins on Friday, the aide said.

Hopkins’s allegations, without his name, were first aired last week by Project Veritas, an organization that uses deceptive tactics to expose what it says is bias and corruption in the mainstream media. Hopkins agreed to attach his name to the allegations late last week. He was instantly celebrated by Trump supporters.

Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe on Saturday hailed Hopkins as “an American hero” on Twitter. A GoFundMe page created under Hopkins’s name had raised more than $136,000 by Tuesday evening, with donors praising him as a patriot and whistleblower. The fundraising page was removed by GoFundMe after this story was published Tuesday, a spokesman for the platform said.

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“Your donations are going to help me in the case I am wrongfully terminated from my job or I am forced into resigning due to ostrizization [sic] by my co-workers,” the page states. “It will help me get a new start in a place I feel safe and help me with child support until I am able to get settled and get a job.”

Separately, Project Veritas announced Monday that it was offering a “$25,000 reward” for “first hand election fraud tips in Pennsylvania.” Late Tuesday, O’Keefe claimed to have recordings of agents questioning Hopkins and said that he was pressured to sign a document he did not understand.

The Postal Service said in a statement over the weekend that it had referred Hopkins’s allegations to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Office of Inspector General.

The Postal Inspection Service declined to comment Tuesday morning, referring questions to the Office of Inspector General. A spokeswoman for that office, Agapi Doulaveris, said it was still “looking into the matter” Tuesday afternoon and declined to elaborate.

Hopkins was escorted out of his workplace Monday afternoon and told not to return until the investigation was completed, according to one of the officials familiar with the probe.

A page on the social networking site LinkedIn that matches Hopkins’s name and other biographical details says he served in the Marine Corps from 2007 to 2012. Hopkins subsequently held numerous jobs for short periods of time, including as a nurse’s aide and as an employee at a fracking company in Texas, according to a Facebook profile. The Facebook page says he became a letter carrier in Erie in August 2018.

– – –

The Washington Post’s Dalton Bennett and Alice Crites contributed to this report.

This story was originally published at washingtonpost.com. Read it here.

 

Trump's big new election lawsuit alleges voter fraud potentially happened in 2 Pennsylvania counties. Both overwhelmingly voted for him.

• The Trump campaign's new major lawsuit in Pennsylvania alleges that voter fraud potentially happened in only two counties.
  
  
• Both counties, Fayette and Luzerne, voted for President Donald Trump.
  
  
• The news articles cited in the lawsuit to bolster its claims reported that local officials were addressing the irregularities before Election Day.
  
  
• The lawsuit also doesn't offer any basis for the kind of widespread voter fraud that Trump has repeatedly alleged without any evidence.
  
  
• Trump and other Republicans have filed over a dozen lawsuits contesting the 2020 election. Their main efforts are in Pennsylvania, which gave President-elect Joe Biden enough electoral votes to clinch the race.