President Donald Trump is still planning legal challenges to the results in some key states as Joe Biden has been declared president-elect.
Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told Fox News that it would be wrong for the president to concede because: “There is strong evidence that this was an election that in at least three or four states, and possibly 10, it was stolen.”
The Trump campaign is yet to provide this “strong evidence” but says it plans to lodge lawsuits in several key states on November 9.
In Georgia
A lawsuit was filed in Georgia’s Chatham County to pause the count, alleging problems with ballot processing.
Georgia Republican chairman David Shafer tweeted that party observers saw a woman “mix over 50 ballots into the stack of uncounted absentee ballots”.
On November 5, a judge dismissed this lawsuit, saying there was “no evidence” of improper ballot mixing.
In Michigan
Donald Trump won the state in 2016 by his slimmest margin – just over 10,700 votes – and Joe Biden has been projected as the winner here in 2020.
On November 4, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit to stop the count over claims of a lack of access to observe the process.
A judge dismissed the lawsuit, saying there was insufficient evidence that oversight procedures weren’t being followed.
In Pennsylvania
Rudy Giuliani says further lawsuits will be filed over a lack of access for poll watchers in the state.
Poll watchers are people who observe the counting of votes, with the aim of ensuring transparency. They are allowed in most states as long as they are registered before Election Day.
In some areas this year, there were restrictions put in place before Election Day, in part due to coronavirus pandemic. There are also capacity limits set to avoid intimidation.
A 20-foot perimeter was set in the Philadelphia counting facility but this was challenged and a court ruling on November 5 said it should be reduced to six feet – as long as poll watchers adhered to Covid-19 protocols.
The Trump campaign has filed a federal lawsuit accusing election officials of violating the judge’s order.
Rudy Giuliani said: “Even when a court order was obtained to allow the Republican inspectors to get six feet closer, they moved the people counting the ballots six further feet away.”
However, the election officials insist they behaved properly.
On November 5, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said: “Every candidate and every political party is allowed to have an authorized representative in the room observing the process. Some jurisdictions including Philly are also live streaming, so you can literally watch their counting process.”
Another ongoing case disputes how long voters should be able to provide proof of identification if it’s missing or unclear on their postal ballots. Voters are currently allowed to fix their ballots up to November 12, but the Trump campaign has filed a lawsuit seeking to reduce this deadline to November 9.
The legal challenge in Pennsylvania also centers on the state’s decision to count ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive up to three days later. Republicans are seeking an appeal.
In Arizona
On November 7, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit in Arizona, claiming some legal votes were rejected.
The case cites declarations by some poll watchers and two voters who claim they had problems with voting machines.
The lawsuit is under review, but Arizona’s Secretary of State said it was “grasping at straws”.
In Wisconsin
The Trump campaign has said it will request a recount in the state “based on abnormalities seen” on Election Day, although this wouldn’t require a lawsuit.
It’s unclear when this recount would take place, since typically these don’t happen until after officials finish reviewing the votes.
Wisconsin’s deadline for this part of the process is November 17.
Columbia University Law School professor Richard Briffault says there was a recount in Wisconsin in 2016 as well, and it “changed about a hundred votes”.
The Nevada Republican Party tweeted saying: “Thousands of individuals have been identified who appear to have violated the law by casting ballots after they moved from Nevada.”
Donald Trump’s legal team produced a list of people who it claimed had moved out of state but voted.
However, the list alone does not prove a violation of law.
People who leave the state within 30 days before an election can still vote in Nevada. Students from Nevada – who are studying elsewhere – can also vote.
The case is focused on voters in Clark County, but the county’s registrar has said: “We are not aware of any improper ballots that are being processed.”
In a separate case, a federal judge blocked attempts by the Republicans to stop the use of a signature verification machine, rejecting allegations that it wasn’t able to check signatures correctly.
On November 4, Donald Trump claimed voting fraud – without providing evidence – and said: “We’ll be going to the US Supreme Court.”
If the election result is challenged, it would first require legal teams to challenge it in the state courts.
State judges would then need to uphold the challenge and order a recount.
The Supreme Court could then be asked be asked to weigh in.
To date, the 2000 election is the only one to be decided by the Supreme Court.
In 2000, Democrat Al Gore lost Florida – and the presidential election – by 537 votes out of a total of almost six million cast in the state.
This was followed by a highly controversial recount process that lasted over a month – until the Supreme Court ruled to stop recounting and in favor of Republican George W. Bush who became president.
A Donald Trump anti-Clinton speech has been cut short by the pastor of a Michigan black church.
Rev. Faith Green Timmons interrupted Donald Trump as he attacked his Democratic rival’s support for global trade deals.
The Bethel United Methodist Church pastor said: “Mr. Trump, I invited you here to thank us for what we’ve done in Flint, not give a political speech.”
Image source NBC News
“Oh, oh, OK, that’s good,” Donald Trump responded, shuffling papers on his podium.
Donald Trump went on to make a few remarks about fixing Flint’s drinking water problems, but some in the crowd began to heckle.
One woman shouted out that Donald Trump had used discriminatory housing practices in his buildings.
The Republican nominee responded: “Never, you’re wrong. Never would.”
Rev. Faith Green Timmons interrupted again, this time to reproach Donald Trump’s hecklers, saying: “He is a guest in my church and you will respect him.”
Donald Trump abruptly ended his speech, which had lasted six minutes.
Three Michigan officials have been charged over contaminated water supplies in Flint.
The charges against two state employees in the environmental department have been charged with misleading the US government about the problem.
A Flint employee is being charged with altering water test results.
Nearly 100,000 residents of the poor, mostly black city, were exposed to high levels of lead, sparking an outcry.
Lead exposure can cause learning disabilities and behavioral problems in children.
“They had a duty to protect the health of families and citizens of Flint and they failed,” said Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.
Bill Schuette told reporters the three individuals would face a mixture of charges including tampering with evidence, conspiracy and misconduct in office.
Photo news.yahoo.com
The two state Department of Environmental Quality employees could face up to five years in jail.
The other man charged is a local water treatment supervisor.
Bill Schuette said the charges were just the beginning of the investigation and more charges were expected with “nobody off limits”.
There have been calls for Michigan’s Republican Governor Rick Snyder to step down over the crisis.
Rick Snyder was grilled by Congress over his role in the crisis in March.
The water problems began in 2014 when the city switched its water supply away from Detroit’s water system, which draws from Lake Huron, and began to instead draw water from the Flint River.
The switch was meant to save the city millions of dollars.
However, the water from the Flint River was more corrosive than Lake Huron’s water and the pipes began leeching lead.
Seven families have filed a lawsuit against Flint authorities as some 100,000 people have been affected by the crisis.
A mystery drone rained money down on people enjoying a picnic in Rosa Parks Circle in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on May 26.
People started screaming with excitement while scurrying to grab $1 bills from the ground.
Children and adults scrambled to collect the bills as an estimated $100 was released above picnickers, amid suggestions the operators were seen on top of a nearby JW Marriot Hotel.
However, no one has yet stepped forward to claim responsibility for the philanthropic stunt.
Although police admitted the event looked “fun”, they said they should have been warned in advance because of safety concerns.
Sgt. Terry Dixon, from Grand Rapids Police Department, told Fox 17: “In a situation like this, this looks fun – fun for everyone involved – especially the kids that are out there. There’s money dropping from the sky and how often does that happen?
“The problem is that it could become a safety hazard for the kids or the youths that are running to get to the money – they could be crossing the roadway and inadvertently be struck by a car or something like that.”
One person was killed and 22 others injured in a fiery multi-vehicle pileup on snowy roads that involved 193 vehicles brought Interstate 94 near Battle Creek, Michigan, on January 9.
As of January 11, both sides of I-94 have reopened, according to Michigan State Police. Frozen equipment stalled the effort to reopen the interstate on January 10, the Associated Press reports. The problematic equipment was being used to remove acid from a tanker truck.
The accident happened at mile marker 90 between the Galesburg and Climax exits just after 10 a.m. ET on January 9.
Numbers for the vehicles in the pileup were varied because of the chaotic situation and confusing conditions.
Michigan State Police (MSP) now say 193 vehicles were involved, including dozens of semi-trucks. Lt. David Wood said that around 50 vehicles remained on the roadway on January 10.
MSP reports at least one semi was carrying fireworks. They also classified it as a “hazardous material situation” because of another truck carrying formic acid, which is mainly used as a preservative.
The fireworks caught fire after the crash and many went off, piercing the air with explosive cracks. Two firefighters were taken to a hospital for evaluation after sustaining injuries from the explosions, the Battle Creek Enquirer reported.
After the crash, police asked that anyone within a 3-mile radius evacuate.
Although investigators haven’t said what might have caused the crash, the weather at the time of the wreck was terrible. According to weather.com meteorologist Linda Lam, temperatures sat at 16 F with gusty winds to make it feel like 0 outdoors. Snow was falling at the time.
At least one person was killed in the pileup. The victim was identified as 57-year-old truck driver Jean Larocque from Saint-Chrysostome, Quebec.
22 people were treated for injuries at area hospitals, the Battle Creek Enquirer reported.
Michigan State University student Dominique Nolff has died after he and another student were attacked by a gunman in their apartment near the school’s campus.
Dominique Nolff, 20, was pronounced dead at 9:23 a.m. Saturday from multiple gunshot wounds, East Lansing police say.
The second shooting victim, also 20, has been treated and released from a hospital.
Michigan State University student Dominique Nolff has died after he and another student were attacked by a gunman in their apartment near the school’s campus
Officers were called about 8:50 p.m. Friday to a report of a shooting at the Cedar Village apartment complex. Dominique Nolff and the other student were found inside one of the apartments.
Dominique Nolff was from Middleville. The other victim is a Grand Haven resident.
According to East Lansing police, the suspect being sought was believed to be in his 20s and the shooting “does not appear to be a random act”.
More than 200,000 homes and businesses remained without electric power for a fourth day in parts of Michigan and Maine.
Utility crews worked through the Christmas Day to try to restore electricity cut off by a severe ice storm Sunday.
The worst affected state was Michigan, with about 158,000 customers remained without power at 2 p.m. ET on Christmas Day, utilities companies said.
More than 59,000 customers in Maine continue to lack power. Crews were putting the final patches on power lines in Vermont and New York state, where outages were in the thousands earlier this week.
More than 200,000 homes and businesses remained without electric power for a fourth day in parts of Michigan and Maine
With temperatures far below freezing, ice on power lines was refusing to budge after the severe weekend weather.
Most of the hotels and motels around Flint, Michigan, had no vacancies Tuesday night as families poured in from hard-hit towns to be somewhere warm for the holiday.
In Maine, emergency officials across the state said the ice storm had created the worst conditions since the Great Ice Storm of January 1998, which left some parts of New England without power for months.
In Waldo County, more than 30,000 customers were without power Tuesday night — equivalent to about three-quarters of the county’s entire population.
The 87th annual America’s Thanksgiving Parade in downtown Detroit, Michigan, begins at 8:45 a.m. on November 28.
The parade route runs along Woodward Avenue from Kirby to Congress at Campus Martius. Grandstand seats are available from between $35 to $55 (depending on location and whether breakfast is included). The parade will be broadcast on WDIV-TV and WJR 760 AM from 9 to 10 a.m.
The 87th annual America’s Thanksgiving Parade route runs along Woodward Avenue from Kirby to Congress at Campus Martius
This year’s America’s Thanksgiving Parade is made possible through the efforts of over 4500 volunteers.
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