Category: US Politics

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is assembling an “all-star” legal team to spearhead legal challenges in battleground states such as Michigan, according to a Wednesday report.

Just The News’ John Solomon reports:

Among the lawyers the president is activating include his private attorney Jay Sekulow, who will help campaign lawyers with matters before the Supreme Court as well as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, officials said.

Sidney Powell, the lawyer for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, may also be called upon, officials said.

The report comes hours after the Trump campaign filed lawsuits to halt vote counts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, another key battleground state.

“As votes in Michigan continue to be counted, the presidential race in the state remains extremely tight as we always knew it would be. President Trump’s campaign has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement. “We have filed suit today in the Michigan Court of Claims to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted. We also demand to review those ballots which were opened and counted while we did not have meaningful access. President Trump is committed to ensuring that all legal votes are counted in Michigan and everywhere else.”

Justin Clark, Trump campaign deputy campaign manager, said the campaign will sue in Pennsylvania “to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers,” adding that the campaign seeks “to temporarily halt counting until there is meaningful transparency and Republicans can ensure all counting is done above board and by the law.”

Neither Michigan or Pennsylvania officials have officially called their respective states for either Trump or his Democrat rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.

Earlier Wednesday, the Trump campaign announced that it will request a recount in Wisconsin.

“There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results. The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so,” said Stepien.

The Trump campaign announced a decision Wednesday to file a lawsuit to pause counting votes in Michigan.

“President Trump’s campaign has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law,” Trump 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement.

Trump Campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh shared a video of a Trump ballot canvasser in Detroit getting ejected from their precinct.

“The steal is on!” he wrote.

With 94 percent of the estimated votes reported, former Vice President Joe Biden is leading the state by 37,350 votes, according to the New York Times.

Absentee ballot counting in Detroit descended into chaos on Wednesday when hundreds of unofficial Republican observers concerned about fraud converged on the counting location.

The city of Detroit is using the TCF Center — formerly Cobo Hall — to count all of the absentee ballots in the city.

Republicans and Trump supporters grew alarmed as Trump was holding a strong lead in the state during early counting Tuesday evening, only for it to evaporate as mailed-in ballots were counted in historically Democrat areas.

Several videos posted on social media show workers attempting to restrict transparency and not allow people outside to observe what was going on inside the counting area:

Matt Finn, a Fox News producer wrote, “Some of the windows remain blocked off. I asked a few people who taped them up and why, no clear answer. A few poll challengers / workers tell us they feel there wasn’t a fair number of (Republicans and Democrats) in this room.”

The Trump campaign has filed suit, arguing they were not given access to the counting process and were thus demanding the vote be stopped until adequate accommodations were granted.

A worker used large pieces of cardboard to cover the windows, preventing those outside from seeing what was going on. Other workers used pizza boxes to block the door windows as some chanted “stop the vote” outside the venue:

Other video showed Detroit police protecting the doors, preventing observers from entering:

As tension grew, a representative of the Detroit health department sought to clear the lobby of the counting area, further angering the watchers:

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson previously said vote counting could take until Friday. On Wednesday, she estimated it could be complete tonight.

With 99 percent of the vote counted, Biden leads Trump by more than 60,000 votes, according to the Detroit News.

Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays. Listen to segments on YouTube or download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, and follow him on Parler.