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Trump Backers’ Michigan Claims Called a ‘Grab-Bag of Falsehoods’

Trump Backers’ Michigan Claims Called a ‘Grab-Bag of Falsehoods’

Supporters of President Donald Trump whose claims of election fraud in Detroit and surrounding Wayne County were shot down by lower courts shouldn’t get to take their “grab-bag of falsehoods” before the Michigan Supreme Court, lawyers for the city argued.

A judge rejected the lawsuit last Friday, saying affidavits claiming widespread fraud in vote counting at the TCF Center in Detroit were “rife with speculation and guess-work about sinister motives.” An appeals court also rejected the case, leading Trump backers to ask the high court to halt the certification or order an audit of the vote tally in Detroit, which heavily supported President-elect Joe Biden.

“This lawsuit is part of a campaign in several ‘battleground’ states to sow confusion and raise doubt – where none exists – regarding the election,” Detroit attorney David Fink wrote in court papers filed Wednesday. “Plaintiffs should not be allowed to use these baseless claims to manipulate the judicial system to derail the democratic process and disenfranchise the voters.”

In a federal court hearing in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Trump campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani claimed without evidence that Democratic officials in large cities, including Detroit, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Atlanta, conspired to prevent Republican poll watchers from closely monitoring the counting of “dangerous” mail-in ballots, allowing fraud to flourish unchecked. Republicans have suggested that hundreds of thousands of votes in these cities should not be counted.

On Tuesday, two Republican on the Wayne County Board of Canvassers briefly blocked certification of Biden’s victory, citing purported voting irregularities in Detroit. But following a public uproar over the Republicans’ offer to certify Wayne County results minus majority-Black Detroit, the board reversed itself hours later and the two Republicans joined two Democrats in certifying the results.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.