The Trump campaign lost another battle Friday in their attempt to prove mass fraud in the election, something thus far they’ve been unable to do. This time, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied the campaign’s request for an injunction in Pennsylvania to undo the Keystone State’s certification of its votes.
Trump-appointed Judge Stephanos Bibas, who wrote the opinion for the three-judge panel, said the campaign’s arguments have no merit. Pennsylvania certified its election results last week, and the federal government’s General Services Administration has allowed for the formal transition process to take place.
“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here,” Bibas wrote in his opinion.
Specifically, the Trump campaign objected that Pennsylvania’s secretary of state and some counties restricted poll watchers and allowed voters to fix technical issues with mail-in ballots. Bibas rejected those claims.
“This case is not about whether those claims are true. Rather, the campaign appeals on a very narrow ground: whether the District Court abused its discretion in not letting the campaign amend its complaint a second time. It did not,” Bibas wrote. “…Nor does the campaign deserve an injunction to undo Pennsylvania’s certification of its votes. The campaign’s claims have no merit. The number of ballots it specifically challenges is far smaller than the roughly 81,000-vote margin of victory. And it never claims fraud or that any votes were cast by illegal voters.”
Trump campaign attorneys Jenna Ellis and Rudy Giuliani reacted to the decision on Twitter: “The activist judicial machinery in Pennsylvania continues to cover up the allegations of massive fraud. We are very thankful to have had the opportunity to present proof and the facts to the PA state legislature. On to SCOTUS!”
Earlier this week, Mr. Trump said “this election has to be turned around” and again falsely claimed he won Pennsylvania. The president made those remarks while calling into a meeting organized by Republicans in the state. On Thanksgiving Day, Mr. Trump said he would leave the White House if Mr. Biden won the Electoral College vote next month, but he seemed to walk that back in a tweet Friday.
“Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous ‘80,000,000 votes’ were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia & Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he’s got a big unsolvable problem!” the president said falsely in his tweet.