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TomCADem

(17,378 posts)
Sun Nov 1, 2020, 10:59 PM Nov 2020

Trump says he's sending in his lawyers as soon as the election ends to review swing state votes

Source: NBC News

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he's sending in his lawyers as soon as the election ends Tuesday, his latest attack on the legitimacy of this week's unprecedented vote count.

After landing in North Carolina on Sunday evening, Trump was asked about a report published Sunday in Axios that said he could try to prematurely declare victory on Election Day. Trump denied that he would do so, but he lamented Supreme Court rulings that allowed for Pennsylvania and North Carolina to count absentee ballots that are postmarked before Election Day but arrive shortly after Tuesday.

"I think it was a terrible decision for our country. And I think it was a very dangerous decision for our country," Trump said. "Because you're going to have one or two or three states, depending on how it ends up, where they're tabulating ballots and the rest of the world is waiting to find out. And I think there's great danger to it, and I think a lot of fraud and misuse can take place. I think it's a terrible decision by the Supreme Court. A terrible decision."

Trump's claims of widespread fraud connected to mail-in voting have been repeatedly debunked.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-begins-rally-blitz-playing-hits-lamenting-cold-n1245691



If Trump is ahead at the close of polls in State, Trump will argue that the count must immediately stop and all remaining ballots should be discarded. Of course, if Trump is behind, Trump will argue that the State should continue to count ballots and will reverse himself and argue that any voters who failed to sign their ballot envelopes should be tracked down, particularly if they are Republican.

This is why we need to run through the tape and make sure to vote as early as possible and to get any Democrat who has not voted to vote as early as possible to eliminate any doubt.
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Trump says he's sending in his lawyers as soon as the election ends to review swing state votes (Original Post) TomCADem Nov 2020 OP
oh gawd i hope he doesnt fake a national emergency at midnight.. samnsara Nov 2020 #1
Karl Rove is on it - perhaps he'll be shunting the votes in key swing state(s) diva77 Nov 2020 #23
What if Biden is ahead? crimycarny Nov 2020 #2
Maybe Putin promised him something about voting booth tallies. C Moon Nov 2020 #11
today on Slate "Trump Can't Just "Declare Victory"" NRaleighLiberal Nov 2020 #3
he can't just "declare victory?" really? orleans Nov 2020 #16
Federal courts are now entirely pro-Trump kiri Nov 2020 #27
I understand your concern but Karma13612 Nov 2020 #4
His lawyers - does that include Ghouliani and Barr? Talitha Nov 2020 #5
They better demand payment upfront. C_U_L8R Nov 2020 #6
So are Dems, you pissant! elleng Nov 2020 #7
He won't be successful challenging state voter laws. Hoyt Nov 2020 #8
He sent detectives to Hawaii to get a birth certificate also. They back yet ? rickford66 Nov 2020 #9
Id hate to audit that expense account. Throckmorton Nov 2020 #10
Who's paying for the lawyers ? It should not be the US Justice department footing the bill. kimbutgar Nov 2020 #12
He knows he's lost. gldstwmn Nov 2020 #13
Yeah but I think he is taking on the challenge Sucha NastyWoman Nov 2020 #15
Trump's lawyers AKA the DoJ. Hugin Nov 2020 #14
... orleans Nov 2020 #17
Translated: "I'm going to lose." C Moon Nov 2020 #18
If he's behind by three points or more, rocktivity Nov 2020 #19
Oh, this is revolting. CBHagman Nov 2020 #20
Say Hi to our lawyers who will be there when yours arrive. TeamPooka Nov 2020 #21
Trump has more important things than this to worry about you would think. cstanleytech Nov 2020 #22
I'm sure his mobster lawyers will be shown the door quickly Warpy Nov 2020 #24
One (of many) things I will never understand about the Trump presidency Steelrolled Nov 2020 #25
Sadly its about posting the five-second headline first and real journalism later, if at all. Ford_Prefect Nov 2020 #26
What Lawyers is he talking about ? Giuliani and Barr ? JI7 Nov 2020 #28
He says a lot of things. Mostly li olddad65 Nov 2020 #29
you can't send in your "lawyers" during the alloted time period of countin votes, PERIOD beachbumbob Nov 2020 #30
Constitution says in very plain language that the states make their own rules, processes and timing. Ford_Prefect Nov 2020 #31
Yup. The Senate is way more important to them. LiberalLovinLug Nov 2020 #40
LetHim.. He isn't the last word in this election! StaunchDemocrat1957 Nov 2020 #32
Rick Wilson is calling them his Flying Monkeys. catbyte Nov 2020 #33
He still has lawyers? randr Nov 2020 #34
Good. I hope he pisses away the last bit of his campaign treasury. George II Nov 2020 #35
Free advice for Trump's lawyers: get paid in cash, in advance. NT mahatmakanejeeves Nov 2020 #36
And we will send lawyers to review his lawyers. honest.abe Nov 2020 #37
Preparing for defeat, eh? n/t malthaussen Nov 2020 #38
Trump is a "wide-spread fraud". louis-t Nov 2020 #39
I wonder how trump interviews an attorney.... Turbineguy Nov 2020 #41
Is he sending "his" lawyers that he's paying out of his own pocket? FakeNoose Nov 2020 #42

samnsara

(17,572 posts)
1. oh gawd i hope he doesnt fake a national emergency at midnight..
Sun Nov 1, 2020, 11:05 PM
Nov 2020

...and start a war just to stop the counts

diva77

(7,606 posts)
23. Karl Rove is on it - perhaps he'll be shunting the votes in key swing state(s)
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 01:59 AM
Nov 2020

to a rethuglican server about that time -- same MO used in 2004.

'Karl Rove's IT guru' Mike Connell dies in plane crash

RAW STORY
Published: Saturday December 20, 2008
https://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/Karl_Roves_IT_guru_Mike_Connell_1220.html

A top level Republican IT consultant who was set to testify in a case alleging GOP election tampering in Ohio died in a plane crash late Friday night.

Michael Connell -- founder of Ohio-based New Media Communications, which created campaign Web sites for George W. Bush and John McCain -- died instantly after his single-prop, private aircraft smashed into a vacant home in suburban Lake Township, Ohio.

SNIP

The interest in Mike Connell stems from his association with a firm called GovTech, which he had spun off from his own New Media Communications under his wife Heather Connell’s name. GovTech was hired by Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell to set up an official election website at election.sos.state.oh.us to presented the 2004 presidential returns as they came in.

Connell is a long-time GOP operative, whose New Media Communications provided web services for the Bush-Cheney ’04 campaign, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Republican National Committee and many Republican candidates. This in itself might have raised questions about his involvement in creating Ohio’s official state election website.

However, the alternative media group ePlubibus Media further discovered in November 2006 that election.sos.state.oh.us was hosted on the servers of a company in Chattanooga, TN called SmarTech, which also provided hosting for a long list of Republican Internet domains.

“Since early this decade, top Internet ‘gurus’ in Ohio have been coordinating web services with their GOP counterparts in Chattanooga, wiring up a major hub that in 2004, first served as a conduit for Ohio's live election night results,” researchers at ePluribus Media wrote.

A few months after this revelation, when a scandal erupted surrounding the firing of US Attorneys for reasons of White House policy, other researchers found that the gwb43 domain used by members of the White House staff to evade freedom of information laws by sending emails outside of official White House channels was hosted on those same SmarTech servers.

Given that the Bush White House used SmarTech servers to send and receive email, the use of one of those servers in tabulating Ohio’s election returns has raised eyebrows. Ohio gave Bush the decisive margin in the Electoral College to secure his reelection in 2004.

IT expert Stephen Spoonamore says the SmartTech server could have functioned as a routing point for malicious activity and remains a weakness in electronic voting tabulation.

"...I have reason to believe that the alternate accounts were used to communicate with US Attorneys involved in political prosecutions, like that of Don Siegelman," said RAW STORY's Investigative News Editor, Larisa Alexandrovna, on her personal blog Saturday morning. "This is what I have been working on to prove for over a year. In fact, it was through following the Siegelman-Rove trail that I found evidence leading to Connell. That is how I became aware of him. Mike was getting ready to talk. He was frightened.
SNIP

crimycarny

(1,351 posts)
2. What if Biden is ahead?
Sun Nov 1, 2020, 11:07 PM
Nov 2020

What if Biden is ahead when the polls close? Will Trump still say remaining ballots shouldn’t be counted?

He’s so full of crap. This is why I would love for something like Texas going blue to happen. Sort of throws Donnie’s plan to contest a couple of swing states out of the water.

Trump really does plan to try and take the whole ship down with him if he loses, doesn’t he? If he tries to contest a valid election you will see the stock market crash, civil unrest, panic, and utter chaos. But Donnie won’t care one bit. Evil.

NRaleighLiberal

(59,940 posts)
3. today on Slate "Trump Can't Just "Declare Victory""
Sun Nov 1, 2020, 11:08 PM
Nov 2020
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/if-trump-declares-victory-election-night-axios-nope.html

Just count the damn votes.

We are nearing the end of a ridiculous pandemic-laden election season, where we may hit record turnout despite the most blatant attempt to suppress the vote in a generation. More than 90 million people have already voted, and we may reach a record turnout of over 150 million on Election Day. I am sure we would have exceeded that number by millions more votes if President Donald Trump and Republicans had not fought efforts around the country to make voting during the pandemic a little less onerous.

And with Joe Biden ahead in the polls, the Trump end playbook has become increasingly clear: attack the counting of ballots after election night—even if they’ve arrived by Election Day—and prematurely declare victory if Trump is ahead—or possibly even close—in the early count. Indeed, Axios reported on Sunday that “President Trump has told confidants he’ll declare victory on Tuesday night if it looks like he’s ‘ahead,’ according to three sources familiar with his private comments.” This is largely in line with Republican lawsuits this election season, including a request over the weekend by Texas Republicans for a federal judge to throw out more than 100,000 ballots, which is likely to fail. Any such effort to continue this ploy after election night would be a disgusting attempted coup to try to stop the counting and manipulate public opinion, but the good news is it is also very unlikely to work.

Let’s start with the counting of ballots. While there has been some dispute about whether state courts such as Pennsylvania’s and Minnesota’s had authority to extend the deadline for receipt of mail ballots that arrive after Election Day (a practice allowed in a fair number of states), there has never been any basis to claim that a ballot arriving on time cannot be counted if officials cannot finish their count on election night.

Indeed, such a claim is preposterous because no state fully counts their ballots on election night. Returns are unofficial and always contain errors. Many states allow military ballots to arrive for days after Election Day. Counting generally continues for days and weeks after Election Day, and results are not certified until weeks after. When it comes to the president, the presidential electors do not cast their official ballots until Dec. 14, and Congress does not count their votes until Jan. 6. This calendar leaves plenty of time to get the counting done.

That’s what makes the Trump campaign efforts to cast doubts on even the counting of ballots after Election Day, even of military ballots, so unprecedented. As Slate’s Will Saletan noted, Trump adviser Jason Miller, speaking on ABC News’ This Week, signaled a legal battle against ballots not yet counted by Tuesday. “If you speak with many smart Democrats, they believe that President Trump will be ahead on election night,” Miller said. “And then they’re going to try to steal it back after the election.”

Counting legitimate ballots is not stealing or flipping the election, and no amount of spin can make it otherwise. But this is part of a broader strategy of Trump, also signaled to Axios, to prematurely declare victory based upon partial vote totals. The New York Times reported that “Trump advisers said their best hope was if the president wins Ohio and Florida is too close to call early in the night, depriving Mr. Biden a swift victory and giving Mr. Trump the room to undermine the validity of uncounted mail-in ballots in the days after.”

The reason this potential opening to prematurely declare victory exists is that more Democrats are voting by mail than Republicans, and in some key states like Pennsylvania, the gerrymandered Republican-controlled legislature has blocked the early processing of mail ballots before Election Day. This means that in some states the early vote count should favor Trump even if he loses by a lot of votes when all the votes are counted. According to calculations by FiveThirtyEight, we could be in a situation where Trump is ahead by as much as 16 points on election night in Pennsylvania, only to see a loss of 5 points or more when all the ballots are counted within about a week of the election: a 21-point swing.

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Trump’s blatant telegraphing of this strategy through leaks to Axios is a blessing in disguise. The public is now going to be hearing from the media about Trump’s plans over the next few days and learn more about why election night vote totals are not likely to reflect the final results if the election is close.

The strategy is not going to work. The networks and news organizations are prepared for this, and Americans have learned to discount anything the president says. Most are inoculated against his lies about voting. And assuming there are no major foul-ups in how the rest of Election Day voting goes, it is hard to imagine any legal strategy that will lead courts to order a halt to the counting of ballots that have arrived before Election Day (even if there could still be litigation over late-arriving ballots). So far, all of the Trump and Republican suits aimed at stopping the easing of voting rules during the pandemic on grounds of a risk of fraud have failed miserably, and any postelection attempt on these grounds should fail too.

The mantra for the next few days is: Count all the ballots arriving legally under state law. Ignore premature victory statements. Take a deep breath.

orleans

(33,987 posts)
16. he can't just "declare victory?" really?
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 01:09 AM
Nov 2020

isn't that what bush did
and the supreme court essentially said, well--he's already declared victory and since so many of the american people already think he won (simply because he said he did) we'll just let him have it; it was close enough anyway.

kiri

(786 posts)
27. Federal courts are now entirely pro-Trump
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 03:30 AM
Nov 2020

I fear your analysis is naive; it ignores that the Federal courts are now entirely pro-Trump with Federalist/evangelicals. These McConnell Federal courts are poised to overrule the State Courts. The Appeals courts are pro-trump, and there is no hope in the Kavanaugh, Thomas, Barrett Supreme Court.

Karma13612

(4,527 posts)
4. I understand your concern but
Sun Nov 1, 2020, 11:12 PM
Nov 2020

...tRump can’t unilaterally decide to throw out ballots.

In states where there is precedent meaning the states have routinely counted ballots for x days after the election, tRump cannot just say those votes cannot be counted. And any court that says otherwise is going to face serious pushback.

It is a gray area when the states have recently decided to extend the deadlines, starting with this election cycle. Nevertheless, It is supposed to be up to the states. He shirks his responsibility with a national COVID plan during the pandemic. Then he decides to intervene in STATE election laws.

Yea, he’s a real piece a work.

I think the Texas ruling in the Federal Court tomorrow will be very telling.


Sucha NastyWoman

(2,725 posts)
15. Yeah but I think he is taking on the challenge
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 12:56 AM
Nov 2020

Of retaining the office anyway, via the courts. It’s the next big reality show!

CBHagman

(16,968 posts)
20. Oh, this is revolting.
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 01:21 AM
Nov 2020

The United States needs to deal with its coddling of rich bully boys who think realities can be handled with a lawsuit or countersuit.

cstanleytech

(26,087 posts)
22. Trump has more important things than this to worry about you would think.
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 01:55 AM
Nov 2020

The main one being is if his friend Vlad will agree to provide Trump with sanctuary.

Warpy

(110,913 posts)
24. I'm sure his mobster lawyers will be shown the door quickly
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 02:03 AM
Nov 2020

since they have no standing in specific states. They're not election monitors or anything else. If they want to sue over something, let them. Monkeying around with the count won't be allowed. That's the state's business.

Expect a flurry of lawsuits that will be shot down very quickly.

 

Steelrolled

(2,022 posts)
25. One (of many) things I will never understand about the Trump presidency
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 02:14 AM
Nov 2020

is why the press hangs on every one of his statements, with all kinds of analysis, etc. It is like they are being constantly trolled.

 

beachbumbob

(9,263 posts)
30. you can't send in your "lawyers" during the alloted time period of countin votes, PERIOD
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 08:07 AM
Nov 2020

there is NO STANDING to do so and no federal court will allow this as the voting process is set by state law and typically have 30 days to count and certify. Where there has been a recent change to voting policy, like expanding time to receive ballots SOME legal wiggle room is possible BUT that doesn;t STOP vote counting

Ford_Prefect

(7,830 posts)
31. Constitution says in very plain language that the states make their own rules, processes and timing.
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 08:49 AM
Nov 2020

The only deadlines are those set for the EC and for tallies which relate to that. Certification takes various paths and times depending on each state and how it is organized to count, recount and certify. Most states have a process of initial ballot results that must then be reconciled and certified, typically during the week or 2 following election day. This is the period when, if there are challenges or issues to resolve, resolution processes will then take place.

Trump's fantasy that there will be material to challenge, or even certified numbers before midnight in states as large as Pennsylvania, disregards how the votes are counted and reconciled and has no bearing on real voting process. He is deliberately conflating the press calling a state or a race won, presumably based on exit polls and previous historical results, with the state board of elections certifying a win, or a loss.

The Slate article (#3 by NRaleighLiberal) above details this much more specifically than I have but the process is the same one and well established.

Trump is not yet the Orange Emperor he imagines. I have no doubt he and the GOP are going to try to every trick they have left to bend the process and the rules in their favor. If nothing else they are desperately attempting to save their dominance of the Senate along with laying the ground for the kind of resistance to legal government they applied during Carter's, Clinton's, and Obama's tenure. It is the only ploy they have since they do not do leadership and have no plan or policies for constructive federal government.

As a party they spent the last 35 years stocking the GOP from top to bottom with zealots whose purpose and faith is the deconstruction of FDR and Johnson style progressive federalism and Civil Rights. They have no other plan or purpose than to dismantle due process and civilian access to government and to deliver as much of our natural resources and taxes to the ultra rich as they can.

LiberalLovinLug

(14,154 posts)
40. Yup. The Senate is way more important to them.
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 03:27 PM
Nov 2020

If they keep the Senate, they will simply block any Biden legislation, or water it down to nothing. And like under Obama, they will just collect any new federal judge appointments into a shoe box, to be opened up only after the next R President is elected. Which they hope will be in 2024 after 4 years of fear mongering, and continuing with the projected accusation of the "do nothing Democrats".

Keeping the Senate can be worked into something almost as good as having all branches. In fact, not having to deal with the free radical like Trump might be even better for them.

Turbineguy

(37,213 posts)
41. I wonder how trump interviews an attorney....
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 05:33 PM
Nov 2020

"Do you have any problem with getting disbarred?"

"How do you feel about spending time in prison?"

FakeNoose

(32,356 posts)
42. Is he sending "his" lawyers that he's paying out of his own pocket?
Mon Nov 2, 2020, 05:48 PM
Nov 2020

I doubt that very much.

If he's sending U.S. Attorneys, then they aren't his lawyers, they are ours.

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