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By: Nathaniel Ballantyne
American Democracy is at a crossroads as Rudy Giuliani and a group of Trumpist lawyers try to undo the will of the American people. Thus, far they have failed as courts around the country continue to dismiss these frivolous lawsuits. Nevertheless, President Trump and his lawyers continue to peddle crazy conspiracy theories that have been debunked by Trump’s government appointees.
Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and other allies have suggested that GOP state legislatures in battleground states Biden won should try to use a delay in certification to appoint their own slate of electors and ignore the states’ popular votes for Biden.
It comes as Trump’s legal team’s options to challenge election results in states Trump lost are rapidly evaporating and as states move to certify their election results. Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani held a 90-minute news conference Thursday where he and his team laid out dubious legal claims, aired debunked conspiracy theories, and brought no specific, credible evidence of voter fraud.
“This is very dangerous for our democracy, as it is an attempt to thwart the will of the voters through political pressure from the President,” CNN election law expert Rick Hasen wrote on his website. “Even though it is extremely unlikely to work, it is profoundly anti-democratic and a violation of the rule of law. It’s inexcusable.”
Chris Krebs, the fired Department of Homeland Security official who had rejected Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud, tweeted that Giuliani’s press conference was “the most dangerous 1hr 45 minutes of television in American history. And possibly the craziest.”
President Donald Trump has invited Republican state lawmakers from Michigan to the White House on Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the President and his legal team are mounting an effort to overturn the results of the election he lost to President-elect Joe Biden.
Trump also called two Republican canvass board members from Wayne County, Tuesday to offer support, the person said, after they went back and forth on voting to certify the election results from the state’s largest county, which includes Detroit. The board members filed affidavits Wednesday seeking to “rescind” their votes to certify the election result.
Trump extended the invitation on Thursday morning to the Michigan lawmakers by calling the state senate’s Republican majority leader, the person familiar said.
Certification is usually a formality, but Trump is trying to block or delay the process in key states as part of a long-shot effort to overturn his election defeat through the Electoral College.
It’s not clear what Trump’s message to the Michigan GOP lawmakers will be. Both Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield have said that they will honor their state’s popular vote and not stray from the process of how electors in Michigan are selected. Biden currently has a 154,187 vote lead over Trump in the Great Lakes State.
On September 24, Shirkey led the Senate to pass a resolution assuring that electors vote for the candidate with the most votes certified by election officials. “The Michigan Senate commits to the selection of electors to the Electoral College that will be faithful to voting for the candidate with the most votes for President in Michigan as certified by Michigan election officials,” the resolution read.
