Pathetic - Part 2

On Friday, the president and his allies suffered legal defeats in six states, including decisive rejections in Arizona and Nevada of their claims of fraud and other irregularities.

Trump was unable to stop the certification of the vote in all the states in which he has sought to contest the results, even after making personal outreach to Republican officials in Michigan.

[...]

Hours before he was scheduled to hold a rally in Georgia on behalf of the state’s two GOP senators, Trump pressed [Governor Brian] Kemp to call a special session of the state legislature for lawmakers to override the results and appoint electors who would back the president at the electoral college.

[...]

Trump also asked the governor to demand an audit of signatures on mail ballots, something Kemp has previously noted he has no power to do. Kemp declined the president’s entreaty.

[...]

Kemp’s spokesman, Cody Hall, confirmed that the two men spoke. Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh declined to comment.

  WaPo

I would love to hear that call. And then Trump tried to smear Kemp about it.

Kemp pushed back.

Hours later, the president tweeted back: “But you never got the signature verification! Your people are refusing to do what you ask. What are they hiding? At least immediately ask for a Special Session of the Legislature. That you can easily, and immediately, do. #Transparency.”

[...]

Kemp has requested that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger conduct an audit, but the governor’s office also has made clear that Kemp personally has no power to order such a move.

[...]

Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University, said that if Trump invoked his federal authority in his conversation Saturday with Kemp, or made the call from the Oval Office, he could have violated criminal provisions of the Hatch Act, which prohibits government officials from political activity in their official capacity.

Oh hell. The Trump administration has repeatedly violated the Hatch Act since the beginning of his administration. This is the administration that's above the law.

While the civil penalties of the Hatch Act do not apply to the president, the criminal provisions do, she noted.

And who's going to charge him?

Trump is to headline a campaign rally for Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the state Saturday night — his first major political event since before the Nov. 3 election.

Everybody pray for Daniel Dale and Aaron Rupar.

GOP officials are working frantically behind the scenes to try to keep the president on script at the rally, worried that he will use the forum to attack Kemp and other state GOP officials who have resisted his pressure.

Of course he will. And they haven't been abe to keep him on script in the past four years. Why are they still trying?

The Georgia governor has become a punching bag for the president, who called him “hapless” on Twitter and told aides in recent days that Kemp was a “moron,” according to the person. He also complained to aides that Kemp should not have appointed Loeffler to succeed retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson in late 2019, saying he does not think she is a good candidate.

There's an ad for Dem candidate Reverand Warnock.

When asked to comment on Trump’s remarks, Loeffler campaign spokeswoman Caitlin O’Dea said, “Tune in tonight and stop reporting fake news.”

[...]

Trump and his allies have claimed with no evidence that county election officials in Georgia accepted ballots where the voter signatures on envelopes did not match the voter signatures on file.

And they know it can't be disproved because the envelopes are separated from ballots after the signatures are matched.

[Georgia Secretary of State]Raffensperger, a Republican, has strongly defended the integrity of Georgia’s election, despite pressure from other GOP leaders, including the state’s senators, who demanded his resignation. Earlier this week, a top official in Raffensperger’s office called on Trump to stop spreading false claims about fraud, saying the rhetoric was leading to threats of violence against election workers.

Biden secured his victory in Georgia by roughly 12,000 votes. A second recount of ballots requested by the Trump campaign is expected to be finalized this week and confirm his lead.

[...]

Democratic state Sen. Elena Parent pushed back at the idea that the legislature could choose to override the popular vote and appoint electors sympathetic to Trump.

“According to the law of the state of Georgia, we do not have the power to submit alternate electors. The provision in the old law is quite clear,” said Parent, who has since been the target of death threats on far-right online sites.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:

Lin Wood, ladies and gentlemen, is Trump's election lawyer, who, by the way, just lost another one.  They're approaching 50 losses.  46 now, I think.