Trump seen, not heard and files new election lawsuit: 500 words

On a rainy Wednesday, US President Donald Trump laid a ceremonial wreath at Arlington cemetery in commemoration of the US’s Veterans Day as his contest of the November 3 election muddled on.

The president avoided speaking to reporters but kept up his tweeting, claiming “a mountain of corruption & dishonesty” in the US election, despite lacking evidence.

President-elect Joe Biden laid his own wreath at a memorial in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He also met behind closed doors in Wilmington, Delaware, with his transition team as he prepared to name his future White House aides and Cabinet officials.

Longtime Biden aide and campaign adviser Ron Klain is reportedly poised to become the White House chief of staff.

Speaking “tactfully” to reporters Tuesday, Biden said Trump’s failure to concede the election, given the apparent results, was an “embarrassment” and would reflect badly on Trump’s “legacy”.

Trump’s campaign filed a new lawsuit in federal court in Michigan, alleging irregularities in the heavily Democratic city of Detroit and asking a judge to delay certification of the vote.

Biden won Michigan by more than 148,000 votes, adding the state’s 16 Electoral College votes to his winning total of 290 so far. It takes 270 electoral votes to become president.

A lead lawyer representing Democrats in Trump’s election lawsuits predicted on Twitter that the president’s latest claim would fail.

Here is the latest Trump lawsuit seeking to halt the certification of election results in Wayne County and statewide.

Like the others, it will fail.https://t.co/jFruayaXkr

— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) November 11, 2020

Trump’s campaign filed a similar lawsuit in federal court in Pennsylvania yesterday, challenging the results of the presidential election in Democratic counties and asking a judge to prohibit certification of the results.

Trump plans to formally request a recount in Wisconsin next week, a state official said.

In Georgia, where Biden leads by 14,000 votes out of five million cast, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced the state will conduct a recount by hand and a random audit of ballots.

“This will help build confidence. It will be an audit, a recount and a recanvass all at once,” Raffensperger said at a Wednesday news conference.

Unless numbers change in the Midwest, Georgia’s recount will not affect the outcome of the presidential race. It can, however, influence whether Republicans or Democrats control the Senate, which will have a major effect on Biden’s presidency.

Trump won Alaska, picking up three electoral votes as expected, The Associated Press reported. The state typically votes Republican.

Republican and Democratic election officials in 45 states have told The New York Times there is no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities.

Most Republicans in Congress are continuing to at least publicly back Trump’s claims about the election. Some have ventured to say Biden is the likely winner.

“We’re on a path, it looks likely Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States,” Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey told a television interviewer in Pittsburgh.