Trump campaign summons staff and vows to keep fighting election results
November 9, 2020
The Trump campaign is vowing to continue their fight to challenge the outcome of the election, even as much of the world has moved on and has recognized Joe Biden as the winner.
On Monday morning, staff was summoned to campaign headquarters in Virginia for a meeting led by Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and lawyer Justin Clark to talk about the next steps, according to a campaign official at the meeting.
Clark told staff not to mistake a “lack of motion for lack of progress,” as the campaign pursues legal action in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. Some of the lawsuits have already been dismissed by the courts, and the campaign has yet to present evidence of alleged widespread fraud that would shift the outcome of the election.
Still, senior Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said on Fox Business that the campaign does believe there is a pathway toward Trump remaining president.
“We’re going to go and pursue all these legal means, all the recount methods,” he said. “We’re going to continue exposing and investigating all these instances of fraud or abuse, and make sure … [that] the American public can have full confidence in these elections.”
Miller said the campaign is pulling together evidence of alleged fraud, and he believes they have enough to change the outcome in Pennsylvania. He added that he expects recounts in Georgia and Arizona, and legal action in Michigan and Wisconsin.
The word “concede” he said, “is not even in our vocabulary right now.”
To pay for the legal battles, the campaign is trying to raise tens of millions of dollars and is leaning on top donors and small-dollar fundraising efforts online and via text. They’re also sending out surrogates to make their case on TV and in states where they are pursuing legal action.
Despite the efforts, some campaign staff members are privately acknowledging there is not a realistic way to overturn the results and are already looking for their next jobs. The campaign is paying staff until Nov. 30, according to another official. Trying to show a united front, they have been told not to post about the election results on their social media accounts.
But some of their social media posts have backfired. Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign communications director, tweeted a photo of a version of The Washington Times newspaper from 2000 with the headline “PRESIDENT GORE” in an attempt to show how the media prematurely announced a winner. Except the headline was photoshopped and the newspaper said they never ran the headline. Murtaugh quietly deleted the tweet.
At the meeting, Stepien lashed out at staff over the stunt, which he called “amateur.”
Gabby Orr and Anita Kumar contributed to this report.
Source: https://www.politico.com/
