Trump Legal Team Pressing Legal Challenges Into January

President Donald Trump’s legal team is reportedly is moving full steam ahead with courtroom election challenges that are now expected to continue into January.

Tuesday marked the “safe harbor” deadline, historically accepted as the date by which all state-level election challenges — such as recounts and audits — are supposed to be completed.

But Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, representing Trump in his bid to overturn the election results, said the courts will look at challenges into next month, well past that deadline, the Washington Times reported.

“Justice [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg recognized in Bush v. Gore that the date of ‘ultimate significance’ is Jan. 6, when Congress counts and certifies the votes of the Electoral College,” they said in a statement, the news outlet reported.

“The only fixed day in the U.S. Constitution is the inauguration of the president on Jan. 20 at noon.”

Ellis reiterated that message on Fox Business’ “Mornings With Maria.”

"Although we have the safe harbor deadline today, and we have the meeting of the Electoral College next week on Dec. 14, the ultimate date of significance is Jan. 6,” she maintained.

According to The New York Times, there are lawsuits left unresolved in Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Of the three federal lawsuits still unresolved, two are in Wisconsin and one in Arizona, the news outlet reported. 

There's also a petition before the United States Supreme Court involving an appeal of a state lawsuit in Pennsylvania; that suit addresses whether election officials were permitted to accept ballots up to three days after Election Day if they were postmarked by Nov. 3, the Times noted. 

The New York Times reported that after California’s certification of its votes on Friday, Joe Biden will have secured more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become president.

But the president and his legal team have assailed the election results, alleging widespread and systemic voter fraud and massive errors in the tallying of a record number of mail-in and absentee ballots.

Those ballots were used more than ever this election cycle as a response to fears that requiring in-person voting would expose Americans to the coronavirus.

© 2020 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

 

Rep. Andy Biggs : 'Amazed, Disappointed' by SCOTUS

The U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of the Pennsylvania election case brought by Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., is not surprising as much as disappointing, according to Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., on Newsmax TV.

"I am not sure I am overly surprised, but I continue to be amazed and disappointed," Biggs, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Tuesday's "The Chris Salcedo Show." "There are other things pending in Pennsylvania that has to be resolved.

"The legislature has got to work a fix on than and in reality, I don't think this is overly surprising to anybody. It shouldn't be anyway."

Pennsylvania courts and Democrat leaders like Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf overruled the will of the state legislature on universal mail-in balloting and a ballot extension beyond Election Day, and that should be considered unconstitutional, Biggs told host Chris Salcedo.

"That's the real problem in Pennsylvania; they disregarded the Constitution," Biggs said. "They decided they wanted to change the law, so instead of going through the process of amending the Constitution in Pennsyvania they just – as you said, 'willy nilly' – established the law.

"Dubiously, they established the law. The courts are not going under the auspices of the Constitution. So it's a real huge problem, not only just Pennsylvania but around the country."

Biggs added "don't be surprised if you see a continuation of litigation out of Pennsylvania."

"There's so much that went wrong there, and quite frankly, it's disenfranchised voters around the country, because if you can change the laws to impact one state you dilute the votes of everybody else," he concluded.

 

Texas' SCOTUS Case 'Be-All, End-All'

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's lawsuit filed with the U.S. Supreme Court is the "be-all, end-all case" for President Donald Trump's ongoing and long-running election challenge, Trump lawyer Jordan Sekulow said Tuesday on Newsmax TV.

"The Supreme Court is not just considering what Texas has filed [Tuesday], they are now going the next step, which is to say, 'We want a response from the states named,'" Sekulow told Tuesday's "Stinchfield," referring to four battleground states Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

"This is the case we've been talking about to reach SCOTUS. This is the outcome-determinative case, 62 electoral college votes, enough to change the outcome of the election."

The Supreme Court, in a case of "original jurisdiction," Sekulow said, will weigh the lawsuit's proposed remedy of the four state legislatures seating new electors, because the "electors clause" was violated, along with "due process" and "equal protection."

"These are all constitutional challenges that Texas is bringing," Sekulow added in his interview with host Grant Stinchfield.

"It's specifically going at the heart of constitutional challenges."

The four states above have until Thursday at 3 p.m. ET to "actively respond" to election fraud allegations in AG Paxton's bill of complaint. Sekulow noted all the other cases brought before – regardless of their lack of success in courts – are included and germane to Paxton's case, labeled Texas vs. Pennsylvania at the Supreme Court.

"I think for the Newsmax audience, they need to understand this is the be-all, end-all case to really determine the outcome of this election," Sekulow said. "This is the major challenge, the one we were waiting for.

"That's different than most court cases at the Supreme Court, because this is a case of original jurisdiction . . . because it is state versus state."

Stinchfield noted Louisiana is signing on to Texas' complaint, and Sekulow added more states likely will, too.

In papers filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, Paxton claimed the states unlawfully enacted last-minute changes, which skewed the results of the general election.

The papers also allege the majority of the rushed decisions, made by local officials, were not approved by the state legislatures, thereby circumventing the Constitution.

"The battleground states flooded their people with unlawful ballot applications and ballots while ignoring statutory requirements as to how they were received, evaluated, and counted," read a statement posted on the Texas attorney general's website.

 

December 2020 Townhall Cartoons

 

President Trump: The election was totally rigged

President Donald Trump prepares to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, to Olympic gold medalist and former University of Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Dec. 7, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 2:20 PM PT – Monday, December 7, 2020

President Trump continues to assert the 2020 election was “rigged” against him as his legal team continues its fight against election fraud. During an event at the White House Monday, he said the election was unfair not only to him, but to the American people.

The President also called the election a disgrace to our country, adding that ballots were pouring for Democrat Joe Biden on part of machinery nobody knew about. He then raised concerns about supposed “glitches” and hinted at bid developments coming out in the coming days.

“They have glitches, as they call them…they got caught sending out thousands of votes…all against me by the way,” stated President Trump. “You know, this was like from a third world nation and I think the case has been made.”

We will not bend.

We will not break.

We will not yield.

We will never give in.

We will never give up.

We will never back down.

We will NEVER, ever surrender! pic.twitter.com/Hef2eJ9yOZ

— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) December 6, 2020

The President has consistently maintained widespread voter fraud helped his Democrat opponent and has urged legislators in multiple states to take action over the issue.

Jenna Ellis to Newsmax TV: Media in 'Rush to Judgment'

While the states see Dec. 8 as the date to certify elections before a Dec. 14 electoral college vote, the Trump campaign sees Jan. 6 as the true "safe harbor deadline," according to Trump campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis on Newsmax TV.

"[Tuesday's] quote, unquote 'safe harbor deadline' actually has no practical effect on the litigation, and even Dec. 14 really doesn't," Ellis told Monday's "Stinchfield."

"All of these are guided, of course, by Congress and when the states actually complete their next steps in terms of delegates. But when the delegate votes are actually opened, certified by Congress, and counted – and that's when we have a president elect is Jan. 6."

Even the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, citing Bush v. Gore, notes Jan. 6, Ellis told host Grant Stinchfield.

"Jan. 6 is the date we're looking at, so we still have a ways to go in this, Grant" she added. "And it's really just the fake news mainstream media that wants to rush this to judgment."

 

NJ Contact Tracing Non-Cooperation Reaches 74 Percent

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy implored state residents Monday to cooperate with coronavirus contact tracers, saying the non-compliance rate had climbed to 74%.

Murphy wrote on Twitter:

"This is not a witch hunt. We're only trying to stop the spread of this virus. Work with our contact tracers."

Contact tracing is used when a case of infection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is confirmed or probable. Those who are infected are to give the names and information of those who they have been in contact with so they can be identified, contacted and so on.

"The rate of noncooperation with our contact tracers is now up to a whopping 74% of cases," Murphy said during a news conference. "Quite frankly, this is unacceptable, and we need folks to turn that around. It is extremely critical for contact tracers to get in touch with the close contacts of those who test positive to help us stop the spread of this virus."

New Jersey, which has the highest death rate per capital in the United States – 1,967 per 1 million, has seen a more than 25% rise in its seven-day average of new daily cases since Dec. 1, climbing from 4,080 to 5,205 on Monday.

State health officials have blamed the increase on gatherings surrounding the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

New restrictions went into effect Monday morning, including the limits on outdoor gatherings from 150 to 25, with exemptions for funerals, weddings, memorial services, church services and political activities, Philadelphia's CBS network affiliate KYW reported.

 

Federalist's Hemingway: Ga. Ballot Fraud Video Not Debunked

The Federalist's senior editor Mollie Hemingway is ridiculing several news outlets that claim Republican accusations of questionable behavior by Fulton County election officials at State Farm Arena, purportedly caught on video, had been debunked, rebutting the reports with affidavits and even other news reports.

Hemingway, 46, the author of "Justice on Trial," about the Senate hearings of Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court, dismissed a report by "Lead Stories" and then The Washington Post, Newsweek, and others, which appeared to anoint government officials as the sole arbiters of whether anything nefarious occurred.

At issue: a video that purportedly showed a handful of election workers telling observers and other ballot counters to leave State Farm Arena in the evening because of burst water pipe. Once the room was cleared, the remaining election officials uncovered suitcase-like containers from under draped tables -- containers alleged to contain thousands of ballots that were then processed without the observers on hand.

Lead Stories, The Washington Post, and others quoted election officials as saying no one was asked to leave and characterizing the activity as normal.

"Leaving aside whether relying solely and uncritically on government officials' claims constitutes anything close to a 'fact check,' let's look at the claim that party observers were never told that counting was over for the night," Hemingway wrote.

She then noted how two Republican poll observers swore under oath they observed a woman they assumed was the supervisor "yell out" to most workers after 10 p.m. to stop counting and return at 8:30 a.m. the next morning.

This, she said, was buttressed by an ABC News report which said ballot counters were told to go home and counting had stopped. Their source was Regina Waller, the Fulton County public affairs manager for elections.

However, Lead Stories quoted Frances Walton, chief investigator for the Georgia Secretary of State, as saying no was asked to leave, according to information provided to the "media liaison who was present that night."

"While Lead Stories doesn't name the media liaison, the media liaison who was present that night, according to the affidavits, was Regina Waller, the Fulton County public affairs manager for elections," Hemingway wrote.

"OK, so on the one hand you have sworn affidavits from observers saying that supervisors told ballot counters to go home for the evening shortly after 10 p.m., and a video showing everyone leaving en masse at that time.

"And on the other hand, you have two government officials promising that no one was told that counting was over."

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