“Frankenstein’s Monster”: Pennsylvania judge crushes Trump’s election strategy

A federal judge on Saturday issued a scathing order dismissing President Donald Trump’s futile campaign attempt to block certification of the vote in Pennsylvania, debunking allegations of numerous mail-in voting irregularities.

The case has always been considered an improbable effort for preventing the nomination of Joe Biden, but it was Trump’s best hope to affect the election results by the courts, more than anything by the number of electoral votes, 20, at stake in Pennsylvania. His personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, entered a courtroom for the first time in decades to present arguments in the case last week.

The Federal District Judge Matthew brann wrote in his order that Trump asked the court to deprive himself of his Seven million voters.

“One would expect that by seeking such an alarming result, a complainant would arrive formidably armed with convincing legal arguments and factual evidence of rampant corruption, ” Brann wrote, so much so that the court had no choice but to stop certification even if it would affect so many people. “It didn’t happen.”

In a scathing decision, the judge (who is Republican) compared the campaign’s legal arguments to “Frankenstein’s Monster” and concluded that the Trump team had presented only “speculative allegations”, not evidence of rampant corruption.

Trump did not give up, and appealed this Sunday the court decision in Pennsylvania, a state which, with Georgia, was preparing this Monday to certify the victory of Joe Biden.

Trump had already suggested, in a tweet published at midnight on Saturday, that his campaign would appeal the decision, and his lawyers trusted the appeals court to rule on the case quickly so they could take the Supreme Court “ as quickly as possible”.

Even if he had won the case in Pennsylvania, Trump should have won other lawsuits in other states where he also asked to delay certification. President’s campaign bombarded fluctuating states or swing states with litigation in the days after the election alleging massive voter fraud without presenting any evidence, but most of these cases were dismissed first.

President led efforts to overturn 2020 election results beyond the courts in the last days. Some Trump allies have expressed hope that state lawmakers could intervene in the selection of Republican voters.

With that in mind, Trump invited Michigan lawmakers to the White House on Friday, hoping an Oval Office meeting would persuade them to shelve the popular vote in favor of Biden of more than 154,000. But lawmakers released a statement after the meeting noting that they would respect the laws and the “normal process” of voters. Trump reportedly considered sending a similar invitation to lawmakers in Pennsylvania.

Time is running out for Trump and his campaign as states certify their results one after the other, proving that Biden won the 270 votes necessary for the Electoral College to win the presidency.

Brann has determined that authorities in Pennsylvania can certify election results which currently show Biden winning the state by more than 80,000 votes. He added that the Trump campaign presented “hard legal arguments on the merits and speculative accusations … not supported by evidence.”

“In the United States, that cannot justify depriving a single voter of his right to vote, let alone all the voters of his sixth most populous state”, according to the judgment. “Our people, our laws and our institutions demand more. ”

Trump tweeted after the ruling that he couldn’t understand why Biden was forming a cabinet after the president’s investigators discovered “hundreds of thousands fraudulent votes, ” a baseless claim for which Trump has presented no evidence.

Giuliani and an attorney for the president’s campaign team said in a statement they welcomed the ruling because it would allow them to expedite an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Trump has repeatedly said that he felt he had empathetic judges. However, judges heard a state case ahead of the election, regarding a three-day extension for voting by mail, and allowed the extension over objections from the Republican Party.

Giuliani, former federal prosecutor and mayor of New York, showed his lack of practice in a hearing this week when he stumbled upon the meaning of “opacity,” mistaking the judge for a federal judge in a separate district and provoking an opposing lawyer. .

Giuliani has repeatedly claimed in court that it was illegal for counties to help people vote. Opposition lawyer Mark Aronchick hinted Giuliani was unaware of Pennsylvania’s electoral code.

Associated press

ap