President Donald Trump suffered a trifecta of legal setbacks in a single day, even as he continues to make his case that the election was ‘rigged’ and that he will prevail.
The latest bad news for the president came in Michigan, where a judge denied the Trump campaign’s request to stop the canvassing of ballots in Wayne County, which includes Detroit.
In addition to ruling against Trump, Wayne County Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny called the campaign’s case ‘not credible.’
‘No formal challenges were filed. However, sinister, fraudulent motives were ascribed to the process and the city of Detroit,” Kenny wrote in an opinion released Friday. ‘Plaintiff’s interpretation of events is incorrect and not credible,’ he wrote, the Detroit News reported.
In Arizona, Trump’s lawyers abandoned a suit seeking a hand count of ballots after a series of networks called the race for Biden.
Biden’s lead exceeds the number of outstanding ballots now, and dropping the suit acknowledges the state will be in Biden’s column.
And in Pennsylvania, a law firm representing the Trump campaign in its claims of fraud seeking to overturn the election results in battleground Pennsylvania has withdrawn from the case.
The Ohio-based Porter Wright Morris & Arthur had brought the suit claiming Pennsylvania’s ‘two-tiered’ voting system was illegal. Its expansive case called into question millions of votes cast by Pennsylvania residents who voted by mail in accordance with state law.
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The firm was facing a backlash for its legal work, was facing public pressure from the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans that worked to defeat President Trump, for seeking to ‘overturn the will of the American people.’
Amid the legal retreats and defeats, Trump suffered more glaring losses on the electoral map. TV networks on Friday afternoon called the closely contested state of Georgia for Democrat Joe Biden.
Hours earlier, they called Arizona for Biden. That set up a Biden win that was not particularly close: 306 to 232 in the Electoral Collage, with a lead of about 5 million in the popular vote. Trump himself had crowed about his own margin, which was also 306 to 232 in 2016, as a ‘landslide.’
The suits came as President Trump continues to raise allegations of the election being ‘rigged’ but has yet to produce proof of his widespread allegations of voter fraud.
In a stunning statement Thursday a committee of officials from Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) debunked claims of widespread voting problems, calling the election ‘the most secure in American history.’
One lawyer from the firm resigned, in what law.com called a ‘public relations nightmare.
The firm Jones Day was also under pressure for its work as outside counsel, and said in a statement it wasn’t taking part in ‘any litigation alleging voter fraud’ or to seek to overturn the U.S. election.
The legal moves come as Joe Biden’s Pennsylvania lead over Trump approached 60,000 votes, while countries around the world have been congratulating President-elect Biden, even as Trump avails himself of legal maneuvers.
Biden captured the presidency on Saturday, thanks in part to a win in Pennsylvania. Trump has refused to concede and has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that there was widespread voter fraud.
In a court filing on Thursday, lawyers at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur said it had agreed that its clients – the campaign and two registered voters – ‘will be best served if Porter Wright withdraws.’
The campaign is in the process of retaining new counsel, Porter Wright said in the filing to U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit, filed on Sunday in federal court in Pennsylvania, alleges that the state’s mail-in voting system ‘lacked all of the hallmarks of transparency and verifiability that were present for in-person voters.’
‘We´ve committed to the court to fulfill our obligations as required to ensure transition to substitute counsel, and so as not to cause material adverse effect on the client´s interest. We will have no further comment,’ Porter Wright said in a statement.
Pennsylvania’s secretary of state and four counties asked a judge to throw out the suit, saying it leveled accusations ‘on the basis of repeatedly-rejected legal theories and no evidence.’
‘This Court should see this lawsuit for what it is: a transparent and premeditated attack on our electoral system that broadly seeks to disenfranchise all Pennsylvania voters who legally cast ballots in this election,’ they wrote in a filing.
A Trump campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Facing criticism over its work for the campaign from some Democrats and The Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump Republicans, Porter Wright said on Wednesday that it has a ‘long history’ of bipartisan election work which ‘calls for us to take on controversial cases.’
The Trump campaign has filed a flurry of lawsuits, part of a larger strategy to try to overturn the election results in key states.
Porter Wright’s withdrawal came after Jones Day, the Trump campaign’s outside counsel, said on Tuesday it is not representing the president or his campaign in ‘any litigation alleging voter fraud’ or litigation seeking to overturn the U.S. election.
Another firm, Snell & Wilmer, withdrew on Tuesday from a lawsuit alleging that Arizona’s Maricopa County incorrectly rejected some votes cast on Election Day on Nov. 3. The firm said it does not comment on client matters.
The moves came as TV networks called Arizona for Joe Biden, putting the Democrat on path to win 306 electoral votes, which would equal Trump’s 2016 total.
