Republicans withdraw four lawsuits against election results in key swing states in fresh sign of Donald Trump's faltering legal challenge
Trump-aligned voters in four states dropped their lawsuits Monday morning, which had been designed to trip up President-elect Joe Biden's path to the White House.
CNN reported that cases in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania federal courts were pulled.
They had been spearheaded by the law firm of conservative attorney James Bopp Jr., who explained to CNN 'because of [attorney-client] privilege and because I do not telegraph my next moves, I cannot comment.'
Election officials count absentee ballots in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Four voters in Wisconsin, who lived in other counties, tried to say that Milwaukee County and two other blue counties' ballots should be tossed because of different rules for absentee ballot processing
President Donald Trump has refused to concede the election, with allies trying to use the courts to change the result. Four such lawsuits were pulled on Monday
President Donald Trump has refused to concede the election, with allies trying to use the courts to change the result. Four such lawsuits were pulled on Monday
The suits mirrored one another in many ways.
In Wisconsin, for example, four voters who live different counties asked the court to exclude ballots cast in three counties based on differences in absentee voting rules.
The counties chosen were the Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee, where the city of Milwaukee is located, Dane, where Madison is located, and Menominee, where the Menominee Reservation is located.
Votes in those blue counties helped tip the state to Biden.
In a filing Friday, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin called the lawsuit 'egregious,' according to WBAY.com.
The four cases being pulled comes after a federal appellate court said Friday that voters couldn't bring some constitutional claims to it, which shut down one avenue for a challenge in Pennsylvania.
These cases are separate from the ones being explored by the Trump campaign, but also don't look likely to go far.
The president and his allies complained Monday morning at the media's treatment of the campaign's Pennsylvania court case, as press reports pointed to a Sunday filing and described it as watered down.
In a side-by-side comparison of the two filings, it's clear that the Trump campaign is asking the judge for less.
Election law expert Rick Hasen, a professor at U.C. Irvine, proclaimed on Twitter Monday, 'Trump's Legal Path to Overturn the Election Results Appears 100 Percent Dead'
President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, spun the change by saying it was by design, not because their case was weak.
'It’s routine for attorneys to file amended complaints to tighten the claims. We simplified the suit so it is more focused and narrowed. This is part of the process,' Giuliani said in a Monday press release.
A number of Trump's Republicans allies, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have given the president cover to explore legal means to overturn the results of the election.
But most experts believe that the margins are simply too big - and Trump has never been able to produce evidence of widespread voter fraud to match his rhetoric.
'Trump’s Legal Path to Overturn the Election Results Appears 100 Percent Dead,' proclaimed U.C. Irvine professor of law and political science Rick Hasen, an election law expert, on Twitter Monday.
