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(CNN) – President Donald Trump’s effort to reverse the elections he lost is increasingly undermined by the inanity of his legal claims and is making some high-profile Republicans retreat, even as the majority of his party remain quietly silent. in the midst of its constitutional fire.
The president’s legal team, ruining ancient traditions of a peaceful transfer of power, is launching far-reaching judicial challenges and increasing pressure on state election officials. His advisers fuel a political storm seemingly designed to destroy Joe Biden’s presidency before it begins and to protect Trump from the historic humiliation that comes with losing an election after just one term.
The show has some top-tier Republicans ready to ask for a break. “It’s over,” Republican Fred Upton of Michigan told CNN’s Inside Politics on Sunday. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a frequent critic of Trump, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trump’s behavior was similar to that seen in a “banana republic.” And even Trump’s friend, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, speaking on ABC News’s “This Week”, called attorney Rudy Giuliani and his cohorts “national shame.”
A tipping point, however, may be approaching in the clash between the administration and the president-elect’s team over Trump’s refusal to initiate a transition, with voting certifications expected in Michigan and most Pennsylvania counties on Monday. .
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If local officials move forward despite interference from a White House spreading unsubstantiated allegations of massive fraud, they will confirm once again that Biden has won the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Therefore, Trump’s position will become less defensible even if he refuses to abandon the false claims he won on November 3.
But Republican officials in Michigan are mostly trying to delay certification by creating a partisan stalemate at the state propaganda committee, which could lead to an even more serious constitutional showdown in the key state.
Trump’s attempts to discard millions of legally cast votes to dishonestly win a second term took place when the official leading the covid-19 vaccination effort warned CNN on Sunday that a proper transition would be preferable given the vital task of quickly inoculate tens of millions of Americans.
“Of course, fluidity is what we are looking for and therefore it would be better,” said vaccine czar Moncef Slaoui in “State of the Union”. Slaoui also provided encouraging news that the US could achieve sufficient immunity through vaccines by May, offering hope for a return to normal life even as infections and rising death tolls herald the months. Darker parts of the pandemic and fears are growing that Thanksgiving travel will lead to an even more severe outbreak of cases.
But while Biden, who has to raise his own money to prepare his administration as Trump is withholding millions of federal funds, moves forward this week with appointing several key members of the government, his team warned that the transition could stall. serious consequences.
“What we are looking for is access to real-time information on what’s going on with vaccine distribution and development and all plans to move forward,” said Jake Jen Psaki, senior advisor to the Tapper transition team. CNN.
The president-elect will appoint Antony Blinken as secretary of state, people familiar with the matter told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny and Dan Merica on Sunday. Biden is expected to do his first round of cabinet announcements on Tuesday.
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Trump’s legal team is turning against itself
Yet the president and his self-proclaimed “elite strike force” legal team are more interested in amplifying his baseless claims of election fraud than in working in the best interests of all Americans to facilitate Biden’s takeover. The campaign’s legal tactic took a fatal blow Saturday when a federal judge openly accused them of failing to provide evidence to support a bold request to invalidate millions of votes in Pennsylvania.
“This court was presented with theses legal arguments without merit and speculative charges, with no filing in the operational complaint and without supporting evidence,” Judge Matthew Brann wrote in a ruling delivered Saturday.
Giuliani filed a very long appeal on Sunday to the Third Circuit Court of Appeal in an approach that is increasingly disconnected from reality. His team is asking judges to effectively deprive millions of Americans of civil rights without offering admissible evidence of fraud.
Attorney Sidney Powell is also proposing an absurd theory that Georgia’s pro-Trump Republican Governor Brian Kemp and other Republican officials are involved in a conspiracy with the CIA, China, Cuba, the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez and the Democrats. . repair the voting machines to deprive Trump of victory.
On Sunday night, Giuliani and another Trump attorney, Jenna Ellis, tried to distance themselves from Powell, saying she wasn’t a member of the team even though they both appeared with her at a distraught press conference in Washington last week and Trump previously said he was part of the team.
In his Sunday night statement, Powell said he agreed not to be part of the campaign’s legal team, but added that “we” are preparing to file an “epic” lawsuit this week.
In the hall of mirrors where Trump’s legal team operates, a stinging reprimand from a judge is simply interpreted as validating a legal strategy steeped in conspiracy theories, lies and paranoia. Giuliani received Brann’s shameful humiliation not as confirmation of a ridiculous case, but as a decision that “turns out to help us in our strategy to get to the US Supreme Court quickly.”
The outlandish nature of such claims is forcing some high-profile Republicans to say that destructive and polluting behavior is enough for Trump’s democracy.
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Hours after Trump’s legal defeat on Saturday, Republican Senator Pat Toomey, who is protected from being a first donation from Trump supporters as he is not running for another term in 2022, declared Brann’s decision, “a Long overdue Conservative Republican, “meant the president had run out of legal options and congratulated” President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. “
Christie, who helped the president prepare for this year’s debates, said despite all the bizarre claims Giuliani’s team is making in court, they don’t present evidence of fraud when they go to a judge.
“I have been a supporter of the president. I’ve voted for him twice, but the election has consequences and we can’t continue to act as if something is happening here that didn’t happen, ”said Christie, an ABC collaborator.
Upton, the Michigan congressman, told CNN’s Dana Bash that “the voters have spoken. I mean, here in Michigan, there was a 154,000 vote margin for President-elect Biden, and no one presented any evidence of fraud or abuse … That’s not too thin a margin.
He referred to Saturday’s statement from Republican Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who ranks third in the House of Representatives, who said Trump should respect “the sanctity of our election process” if he can’t prove his claims in court.
Hogan, a frequent critic of Trump, said in “State of the Union” that “it’s time they stop joking. It gets weirder every day. And, frankly, I’m ashamed that more people in the party aren’t saying something. Governor of Maryland earned him a reprimand on Twitter from the president.
In NBC’s “Meet the Press,” North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer, a Trump ally, did not openly break with the president, but said he should initiate a transition. And on “Fox News Sunday,” former Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz said that while he hoped Trump, whom he strongly supported, would eventually prevail, the White House should “loosen that money” that Biden needs to execute. its transition and ensure the continuity of the government.
Michigan moves
Michigan, a battleground that left Trump in 2016 but where Biden won by over 150,000 votes this year, will again be in the spotlight on Monday when a key Republican on the state’s propaganda committee is expected to participate in the vote. . against the certification of the election.
Republican Representative Paul Mitchell of Michigan said one of the two Republican members on the board, Norman Shinkle, will vote against certification until the investigation is complete, CNN’s Tapper and Annie Grayer reported. Despite producing affidavits alleging wrongdoing at Wolverine’s estate, Trump’s campaign has not presented evidence that has been confirmed in court.
The chances of the election being certified on Monday now hinge on the vote of the other Republican member of the propaganda committee, Aaron Van Langevelde. Failure to certify the election could leave the dispute in the hands of Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer or the state Supreme Court.
Trump and his aides exerted considerable pressure on local politicians in Michigan to counter Biden’s victory. The president summoned two members of the Republican leadership of the state legislature to the White House on Friday. But they came out stating that they have not received any information that changes the outcome of the elections.
In Pennsylvania, where Biden’s margin exceeds 81,000 votes, a majority of the county’s electoral councils are expected to meet on Monday to certify the election results.
Philadelphia is expected to meet Monday or Tuesday depending on a pending lawsuit filed with the state court attempting to delay certification. The counties send the results to Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, who will award the 20 state election votes to the winner.
Cascading deadlines for certifications and ongoing changes to the courts mean that Trump’s already low hopes of overturning election results are getting slimmer by the day.
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