Trump Makes ‘Extraordinary’ Request of Pa. Lawmaker – By Evann Gastaldo (Newser) / Dec 8 2020
He asks state House speaker to help him overturn results of presidential election
(NEWSER) – For the third time, President Trump is directly intervening in an attempt to overturn a state’s election results. This time, as the Washington Post reports, the POTUS has twice called Pennsylvania’s House speaker, Bryan Cutler, to ask him for help reversing Joe Biden’s win in the state. The paper, which calls the move “extraordinary,” says Cutler’s office confirmed the calls but says there was no “pressure” from Trump. Trump has also reached out to Republicans in Michigan, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, with similar requests. The AP reports this latest strategy comes as judges have repeatedly, and often harshly, shut down the Trump campaign’s attempts to intervene with election results. The outlet notes Trump’s team wrongly believed courts would be integral to their eventual win, but even conservative judges and judges appointed by Trump himself have disagreed.
“The president said, ‘I’m hearing about all these issues in Philadelphia, and these issues with your law,'” said a Cutler spokesman who described the calls. “‘What can we do to fix it?'” Cutler reportedly informed Trump he had no power to overturn the state’s electors, but the Post notes Cutler, a Republican, did join other GOP lawmakers in urging the state’s congressional representatives to dispute those electors on Jan. 6 when Congress is set to formally accept the results from each state. At least one has agreed to lodge an objection, as have other GOP congressmen against their state’s electors. A campaign official says Trump spends much of his time trying to find ways to reverse Biden’s win, and has asked his lawyers which other lawmakers he should call. “He’s going to keep doing this until the 14th at the least,” a source says. Biden will be sworn in Jan. 20. (Read more Election 2020 stories.)
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