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12/2 Daily Update: These Opinions Matter

Published: 12.2.20

Following certifications in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, a hat trick of important opinion pieces emphasized that America’s elections are both secure and fair, despite ongoing false allegations by President Trump and his legal team.

Former Arizona Attorney General and VPP Advisory Board member Grant Woods published a CNN op-ed, “Three groups that stood up for American democracy.” In the piece, Woods emphasizes that certification of election results in battleground states “is a product of the determination and courage of everyone who showed up and did their part” including poll workers, vote counters, and state leaders who fought for a free and fair process — and, of course, voters who did their patriotic duty.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board weighed in against the Trump campaign’s conspiracy theories: “As specific claims of fraud get knocked down, however, the broader tale of election theft takes on the nature of the unfalsifiable. ‘We won the election easily,’ Mr. Trump said Sunday. He later added: ‘It’s not like you’re going to change my mind.’ But where’s the hard evidence to convince the country? Many of the theories floating around don’t withstand scrutiny.”

And to round out the trio, former director of DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Chris Krebs (recently fired unceremoniously by President Trump for the offense of telling the truth about the election) wrote in the Washington Post: “The 2020 election was the most secure in U.S. history. This success should be celebrated by all Americans, not undermined in the service of a profoundly un-American goal.”

Here’s your update:

National Update

Barr Gets the Cold Shoulder: In a news briefing, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked whether Trump has confidence in Attorney General Barr after he said Tuesday that he had found no widespread voter fraud calling into question the election’s outcome. Her answer was decidedly noncommittal — even more so than past instances in which she has been asked about other administration officials and nominees. Read more here. Lawyers Call It Like They See It: More than 20 former presidents of the DC Bar Association castigated President Trump’s legal team for their unfounded attacks on America’s democracy and their “serious disregard” for “professional duties of lawyer-citizens.”

State Updates

Georgia: In a conspiracy-filled press conference held in Georgia today, attorneys Lin Wood and Sidney Powell — the latter a former member of Trump’s legal team — repeatedly claimed, without citing any evidence, that Trump not only won Georgia but most other states, including California. They wildly described a fictitious international conspiracy involving Dominion Voting Systems, China, George Soros, the Deep State, and the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez collaborating to steal the election. Read more here.

Michigan: Legal advisor Jenna Ellis and Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani spoke at a meeting of the Michigan House Oversight Committee, as part of their anti-democratic effort to pressure the GOP-controlled state legislature to break state law and attempt to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s 154,000-vote win. Even though the meeting had the trappings of a formal hearing, the committee refused a Democratic legislator’s request to put Giuliani under oath. Read more here.

Wisconsin: President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn Wisconsin’s election results by tossing ballots from the state’s two most heavily Democratic counties is an “assault on democracy,” attorneys for Governor Tony Evers said in filings with the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Read more in our legal corner.

Legal Corner

You Can’t Always Get What You Want: Ahead of tomorrow’s formal election contest hearing, a Nevada state judge today turned down burdensome discovery demands levied by Republican plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs are a slate of would-be Republican presidential electors. They are suing the Democratic presidential electors selected by Nevada voters, who gave Joe Biden the state by more than 33,000 votes. The failed electors are asking the court to shift Nevada’s votes to Trump or else void the election altogether. Among the many problems they confront: They have already litigated and lost some of their key claims – like Democratic stronghold Clark County’s use of Agilis voting machines.

The case is Law v. Whitmer, No. 20-OC-00163B (First Judicial District Court, Carson City).

Fourth Time’s a Charm Is Not a Thing: Kraken IV, the latest and hopefully last of disowned Trump lawyer Sidney Powell’s misbegotten litigation progeny, was released today onto the federal courts of Arizona. Like its older siblings, it gestures bizarrely towards a hallucinatory conspiracy of vote-rigging that allegedly involves Arizona voting officials, Georgia’s Republican governor, Iran, dead Venezualan dictator Hugo Chavez, favorite anti-Semitic target George Soros, and Colorado-based Dominion Voting Systems’ machines. The conspiracy theory with a caption is Bowyer v. Ducey, 20-2321 (D. Az.).

Meanwhile, Powell’s existing cases are not thriving. Her Georgia case, Kraken I, has been indefinitely stayed by a vocally unhappy trial court judge pending Powell’s frivolous interlocutory appeal to the Eleventh Circuit. It’s a good thing she’s not in a hurry. Her Wisconsin case, Kraken III, did not get off on the right foot either: Today, the judge issued an order observing that Powell filed a draft complaint rather than a finalized version (that’s bad practice); failed to verify her complaint (also bad); did not serve the defendants (unhelpful, since you can’t have a court case without defendants); failed to request a hearing (ditto); and, despite labeling the case an “emergency,” said absolutely nothing to explain why the case ought to be expedited. (This, too, is bad).

Messaging Guidance: Michigan

  • The continued baseless claims and attempts to undermine the result are a waste of taxpayer dollars and state resources. Even Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr came out and said there is NO evidence of widespread fraud that would affect the outcome.
  • We need our leaders focused on moving our country forward and dealing with the COVID crisis.
    • In Michigan, there have been ZERO hearings on COVID, but we have seen hours of hearings on the baseless attacks on the legally cast votes by millions of Michiganders.
    • Another hearing today with Rudy Giuliani’s traveling fantasy show is not going to change the outcome and only attacks the will of the voters in Michigan.
  • The Republican election administrator in Georgia said it best last night: “It’s time to look forward.” This was a safe, secure, and fair election in Michigan and everywhere.
  • We continue to stand with the state and local officials and poll workers across Michigan – from both parties – who made sure this year’s election was free, fair, and accurate, and the voters who turned out in record numbers.
  • The outcome of the election is crystal clear: Michigan voters chose Joe Biden as their next president, by a margin more than 10 times larger than Donald Trump’s 2016 victory.
  • Michigan has already joined other states in doing its nonpartisan job of counting votes and certifying results, as required by law. The will of the American people, including voters in Michigan, has been heard and must be respected.

Key Events and Deadlines

For ongoing tracking of progress in battleground states, check our resource here. For a calendar of key upcoming events, check out our timeline here.

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