Trump ally says vote fraud claims ‘a national embarrassment’
As more top Republicans speak out, one of Donald Trump’s top advisers has slammed the US President for his ongoing legal challenges over the US election result.
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A close ally of Donald Trump has slammed the US President and his legal team over ongoing legal challenges to the election result, calling it “a national embarrassment”.
Former New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie, who has been a close aide to Mr Trump, denounced a lack of evidence in the US President’s legal challenges, emphasising that Mr Trump has had his chance to prove allegations of widespread voter fraud in court.
On Saturday, a Pennsylvania judge threw out Mr Trump’s claims of widespread electoral fraud there in a scathing ruling which excoriated the Trump team’s legal strategy and was the latest in a string of legal defeats.
During an appearance on This Week in the US, former Clinton-adviser-turned-TV-anchor George Stephanopoulos said that nearly all of Mr Trump’s election lawsuits have been tossed out of court, including the Pennsylvania suit that sought to discard millions of votes.
“Is it finally time for this to end?” Mr Stephanopoulos asked Mr Christie.
“Yes, and here’s the reason why,” the former New Jersey governor replied. “The president has had an opportunity to access the courts, and I said to you, you know, starting at 2.30am on Wednesday morning, if you have got the evidence of fraud, present it. The legal team has been a national embarrassment.”
Mr Christie also took aim at Sidney Powell, a member of Mr Trump’s legal team, who has made wild and baseless claims that the Republican governor of battleground state Georgia, Brian Kemp, has taken bribes and is part of an international conspiracy to install Mr Biden in the White House.
“This is outrageous by any lawyer and notice, and they won’t do it inside the courtroom,” Mr Christie stated.
“They allege fraud outside the courtroom, but when they go inside the courtroom, they don’t plead fraud and they don’t argue fraud.”
Mr Christie also reiterated that he remains a supporter of Mr Trump’s, but the one-time Republican presidential candidate also pointed out that “elections have consequences” and “we cannot continue to act as if something happened here that didn’t happen.”
Mr Chrsitie wasn’t the only Republican to take aim at Mr Trump’s tactics.
Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton said that US President-elect Joe Biden would be sworn in in January, but said, “The real question is how much damage Trump can do before that happens.”
Speaking on CNN, Mr Bolton said Mr Trump’s tactics were designed mainly to sow chaos and confusion, as a demonstration more of “raw political power” than a genuine legal exercise.
Mr Bolton also noted that the Trump campaign has so far lost all but two of more than 30 legal challenges in various states.
“Right now Trump is throwing rocks through windows, he is the political equivalent of a street rioter,” Mr Bolton said.
And another former Trump administration national security adviser, HR McMaster, said on US TV that Mr Trump’s efforts were “very corrosive” and warned that his actions were sowing doubt among the electorate.
“It’s playing into the hands of our adversaries,” he said, warning that Russia, for example, “doesn’t care who wins” as long as many Americans doubt the result, undermining US democracy.
Meanwhile, Mr Biden will name on Tuesday the first picks to be part of his administration, his chief of staff said, as Mr Trump continues to refuse to concede his loss to the Democrat.
Mr Biden has been pushing ahead with preparations to take over as president in January despite Mr Trump’s moves on multiple fronts to try to undo the results of the November 3 vote.
“You are going to see the first of the president-elect’s cabinet picks on Tuesday of this week,” Mr Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klain said during a US TV interview on Sunday (local time).
“You’ll have to wait for the president-elect to say that himself on Tuesday,” he added.
With the clock ticking down to Mr Biden’s January 20 inauguration, Mr Trump’s team has focused on trying to stop battleground states from certifying election results while continuing to pursue legal challenges that have so far failed.
“Donald Trump’s been rejecting democracy. He has been … launching baseless claims of voter fraud, baseless litigation rejected by 34 courts,” Mr Klain said.
“It’s corrosive, it’s harmful, but … it’s not going to change the outcome of what happens here at 12 noon on January 20: Joe Biden will become the next president of the United States.”
TRUMP DEALT NEW BLOW IN VOTE BATTLE
On Saturday, a Pennsylvania judge threw out Mr Trump’s claims of widespread electoral fraud in the state, dealing a new blow to the Republican’s bid to overturn his loss in the US presidential election.
The decision — announced in a scathing judgment which excoriated the Trump team’s legal strategy — paves the way for Pennsylvania to certify Mr Biden’s victory there, which is scheduled to take place Monday.
With the clock ticking down to Mr Biden’s January 20 inauguration, Mr Trump’s team has focused on trying to stop battleground states from certifying election results, in addition to his numerous legal challenges that have so far failed.
Judge Matthew Brann wrote in his ruling that Trump’s team had presented “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations” in their complaints about mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania.
“In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state,” Mr Brann wrote.
“Our people, laws, and institutions demand more.”
Mr Biden won the state-by-state Electoral College votes that ultimately decide who takes the White House by 306 to 232.
The Electoral College is due to formally vote on December 14, with certifications to take place beforehand.
States’ certification of results of their popular votes is usually routine following a US presidential election.
But Mr Trump’s refusal to concede has complicated the process and drawn concerns that he could cause long-term damage to Americans’ trust in their voting system.
Only a limited number of Republicans have so far recognised Biden as the winner and called on Mr Trump to concede.
The Pennsylvania court ruling prompted a Republican senator from the state, Pat Toomey, to join those ranks, saying Biden “won the 2020 election and will become the 46th president of the United States.”
“President Trump should accept the outcome of the election and facilitate the presidential transition process,” Toomey said in a statement that congratulated Biden while specifying he voted for Trump.
TWITTER SLAPS DOWN TRUMP WITH VOW TO GET BEHIND BIDEN
Donald Trump’s preferred communication channel, Twitter, announced it will hand the @POTUS account over to President-elect Biden on Inauguration Day — even if President Trump refuses to concede.
The announcement came as Mr Trump’s pathway to re-election continued to look highly unlikely.
“Twitter is actively preparing to support the transition of White House institutional Twitter accounts on January 20, 2021,” a Twitter spokesman told the New York Post.
“As we did for the presidential transition in 2017, this process is being done in close consultation with the National Archives and Records Administration,” the spokesman added.
Other government accounts such as @VP, @FLOTUS, @whitehouse will also be handed over to the Biden administration.
The existing tweets from the Trump administration will be archived by the NARA.
The news came as President Trump told his followers to “stay tuned” for more voter fraud information out of Georgia – a day after Joe Biden was officially certified the winner of the state.
The president made the claims on Twitter as he continued to insist there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
“Big voter fraud information coming out concerning Georgia. Stay tuned!,” Trump wrote.
Big voter fraud information coming out concerning Georgia. Stay tuned!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2020
Massive voter fraud will be shown! https://t.co/F0iGNXtXZP
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2020
Earlier on Saturday morning, he also made unbacked claims voter fraud in Michigan – and shared messages about a meeting he had with the state’s Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield.
“This is true, but much different than reported by the media. We will show massive and unprecedented fraud!,” Mr Trump wrote alongside a retweet of a statement on the meeting from Sen Shirkey.
After his Saturday tweet storm, Trump was seen golfing at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
As the president was seen winging clubs, protesters gathered in Atlanta to support Trump, demonstrating against the results of the US Presidential election.
Trump’s claims about Georgia come just a day after Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger declared that Biden had won the state’s hand recount.
Election officials across the US have said there is no evidence of fraud that would alter the result of the election.
According to Georgia’s secretary of state, the hand recount upheld the original outcome produced by the machine tally of votes cast.
Georgia Gov Brian Kemp certified the state’s election results on Friday – but also reportedly said that now that the results are certified, the Trump campaign can pursue other legal actions to call for a recount, according to CBS.
TRUMP’S SON TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
Donald Trump Jr has tested positive for coronavirus.
“Don tested positive at the start of the week and has been quarantining out at his cabin since the result. He’s been completely asymptomatic so far and is following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines,” a spokesman said.
The President’s oldest son is the latest member of Mr Trump’s inner circle to test positive for the deadly virus. Donald Trump Senior, First Lady Melania Trump, Don Jr’s youngest sibling Barron Trump, as well as campaign members and White House staff have all contracted COVID-19 in recent weeks and months.
Trump Jr’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, tested positive for the virus during the summer months.
The news comes as the pandemic continues to ravage America, with the infection and death rates dramatically spiking across the country.
Meantime, an increasingly isolated Donald Trump is refusing to stand down from his claims the election was stolen from him, as even his most loyal family members reportedly urge him to accept defeat.
In a series of tweets early Friday, the ousted president insisted “the Election was a HOAX”.
This was despite a hand recount in key state Georgia confirming Democrat Joe Biden had won and widespread criticism of the desperate and unsupported claims made by Mr Trump’s controversial legal team.
As Team Trump suffered another three legal losses, Mr Biden’s lawyer described efforts to overturn the election result as “pathetic”.
“There is harm being done to the democratic process,” Bob Bauer said. “There is, however, no chance whatsoever that Donald Trump could be successful in what it is that he is trying to do.”
It came as First Daughter Ivanka Trump and her senior White House Adviser husband Jared Kushner were reported to be urging Mr Trump to preserve his legacy and let go of his improbable legal challenges.
“Even Jared and Ivanka think this is going nowhere,” reported influential political news site Axios in an article titled: “Trump is on an island”.
In her first White House briefing for seven weeks, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany refused to give a time frame for Mr Trump handing over to Mr Biden.
“Right now there is ongoing litigation,” she said.
“There are very real claims out there that the campaign is pursuing.”
It came a day after Mr Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani drew widespread ridicule after he sweated his way through a press conference making wild allegations of election fraud with black hair dye or mascara running down his face.
Mr Giuliani’s claims, along with those of Trump lawyer and conspiracist Sidney Powell, sparked bipartisan criticism.
Sacked cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, who was ousted by Mr Trump after describing the 2020 poll as “the most secure in American history”, slammed the pair’s unproven fraud claims.
“That press conference was the most dangerous 1hr 45 minutes of television in American history. And possibly the craziest,” Mr Krebs tweeted.
“If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re lucky.”
And conservative superstar Tucker Carlson, the highest rating Fox News prime time host, expressed frustration at the lack of proof of electoral fraud offered by Team Trump’s lawyers.
He described his evening program as “open-minded”, noting that “we literally do UFO segments”.
But he couldn’t support claims from Mr Trump and echoed by Ms Powell that computer voting systems switched the votes of millions away from the Republican candidate.
“We invited Sidney Powell on the show. We would have given her the whole hour,” Mr Carlson said at the opening of his Thursday night show.
“But she never sent us any evidence, despite a lot of requests, polite requests. Not a page. When we kept pressing, she got angry and told us to stop contacting her.”
Meanwhile, would-be president Joe Biden celebrated his 78th birthday on Friday, local time.
Mr Biden will be the oldest sworn-in president if he takes the top job on January 20, with his predecessor Donald Trump having previously held the record when he was aged 70 on January 20, 2017.
Previously, Ronald Reagan had the senior honours, having been 69 years old on his Inauguration Day in 1981.
Mr Biden’s age and mental acuity had featured heavily in Republican attacks during the election campaign with Mr Trump often describing him as “senile”.
It has also drawn focus on Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, 55, whose opponents say will shortly step into the top job, given Mr Biden’s age.
– with AFP
Originally published as Trump ally says vote fraud claims ‘a national embarrassment’
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