Trump To Meet With Ten State Attorneys General Backing Case To Overturn Election

Topline

President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with a group of Republican state attorneys general at the White House on Wednesday – most of whom are engaged in or supporting an effort to overturn the results of the presidential election – as he still refuses to concede just days before the electoral college is set to vote.

Key Facts

Key Background

Trump has proven willing to put pressure on officials, both publicly and privately, to attempt to flip the election in his favor. He called county officials in Detroit shortly before they attempted to rescind their votes to certify their election, and he met with Michigan GOP leaders at the White House. He has also urged Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, both by phone and on Twitter, to get his legislature to overturn his state’s election. On Tuesday, Trump called the speaker of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives to entreat him to do the same.

Surprising Fact

One Republican state attorney general who will notably not be in attendance is Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. Trump called Carr to warn him not to urge other Republicans to rally against the Texas lawsuit, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Trump has reserved some of his harshest attacks for Georgia’s GOP state officials for refusing to reverse Biden’s loss, repeatedly slamming Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and calling for Gov. Brian Kemp and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan – both avowed Trump supporters – to be replaced.

Crucial Quote

“If I would say to you, ‘I don’t want to do it,’ I’d get my house bombed tonight,” Kim Ward, the Republican leader in the Pennsylvania State Senate, said of the consequences of publicly defying Trump’s fraud claims.

Chief Critic

“You know who voted for you in Michigan, General Paxton? No one. Literally no one,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said of the Texas lawsuit during an MSNBC appearance Wednesday. “Stay in your lane, and stick to trying to disenfranchise voters in your own state. Don’t come to mine.”

Tangent

Trump enlisted Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) to recruit his GOP House colleagues to sign a separate amicus brief supporting the Texas lawsuit, Johnson said in an email obtained by Forbes. Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-Va.) told Forbes the suit is “built on disinformation” but predicted the brief would get a significant number of signatures.

What To Watch For

The case is unlikely to succeed. A case brought by Republicans in Pennsylvania seeking to overturn their state’s election was rejected by the Supreme Court, who refused to hear the case in a single sentence: “The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied.”