Donald Trump summons Michigan's top Republicans to the White House in apparent bid to press them to overturn election results after Detroit GOP's flip-floppers tried to stall Joe Biden's victory
President Donald Trump summoned Michigan's Republican legislative leaders to the White House for a meeting Friday amid a longshot GOP push to overturn the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the battleground state.
Trump had already personally thanked the two Detroit, Michigan Republicans for their support in the hours before they changed their minds and tried to rescind their certification of Biden's victory in their county.
Two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Trump invited Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield.
President Donald Trump, photographed six days ago at his last White House appearance, has invited Michigan's top Republicans to the White House Friday as he continues to contest the results of the 2020 presidential election
Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives Lee Chatfield, seen speaking at a Trump rally in Muskegon, Michigan in October, has been called to the White House Friday by President Donald Trump, who has refused to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden
Chatfield will be joined by Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, also a Republican, and visit Trump in the White House Friday. Trump has bunkered down as he tries to get election results tossed
They agreed to go, according to a state official aware of the leaders' plans. The two officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing private conversations.
It was not immediately clear what the meeting would be about. Neither Shirkey nor Chatfield commented.
The Legislature would be called to select electors if Trump succeeds in convincing the state´s board of canvassers not to certify Biden's 153,000-vote victory in the state.
Both Shirkey and Chatfield have indicated they will not try to overturn Biden's win.
'Michigan law does not include a provision for the Legislature to directly select electors or to award electors to anyone other than the person who received the most votes,' Shirkey's spokesperson said last week.
Also Thursday, state officials said Michigan's largest county cannot revoke its certification of election results after two Republicans who approved Joe Biden's local landslide wanted to revert to their initial stance of refusing to bless the vote tally.
The two Republicans, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, were called by Trump on Tuesday night.
They issued a statement Wednesday saying that they only voted to certify the results after 'hours of sustained pressure' and after getting promises that their concerns about the election would be investigated.
Wayne County Board of Canvassers Chair Monica Palmer (left), a Republican, says she talked to President Donald Trump Tuesday night. By Wednesday she and fellow Republican William Hartmann tried to rescind their certification of the results in the 2020 race
Republicans William Hartmann (left) and Monica Palmer (right) refused to certify Wayne County, Michigan's election results Tuesday, then did so. They received a call from President Donald Trump Tuesday night. By Wednesday they tried to rescind their certification
Monica Palmer told The Washington Post that President Donald Trump called her and she alleged she received threats after holding up the process to certify the election results in favor of President-elect Joe Biden
William Hartmann sports a Trump: Make America Great Again hat in a photo at a restaurant he posted to his Facebook page. He and Monica Palmer want to rescind their votes certifying their county's election results that were highly favorable to Joe Biden
Palmer confirmed her conversation with the president to The Washington Post, as she alleged she was threatened into green-lighting the Biden results.
'I did receive a call from President Trump, late Tuesday evening, after the meeting,' Palmer told the paper. 'He was checking in to make sure I was safe after hearing the threats and doxing that had occurred.'
Palmer and Hartmann initially voted against certification Tuesday, leaving the Wayne County Board of Canvassers deadlocked at 2-2 along party lines.
Palmer complained that certain Detroit precincts were out of balance, meaning that absentee ballot books did not match the number of ballots cast.
The GOP move drew an immediate rebuke from the public and injected partisan politics into the business of an unsung panel that is supposed to confirm the will of the voters.
Biden crushed Trump in Wayne County, a Democratic stronghold, by a more than 2-1 margin on his way to winning Michigan by 146,000 votes, according to unofficial results.
His victory reversed Trump's 2016 gains in the industrial Midwest and put Biden on the path to achieving the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.
The county canvassers later voted again and certified the results, 4-0. Then, on Wednesday, Palmer and Hartmann signed affidavits saying they believe the county vote 'should not be certified.'
'We deserve better - but more importantly, the American people deserve better - than to be forced to accept an outcome achieved through intimidation, deception, and threats of violence,' they said in the statement. 'Wayne County voters need to have full confidence in this process.'
They said in their statement Wednesday that they've reported threats against them to law enforcement.
State officials said the certification of the Detroit-area vote will stand.
Michigan's chief election officer said a post-election audit will be performed, though not to check 'mythical allegations' of fraud.
'There is no legal mechanism for them to rescind their vote. Their job is done, and the next step in the process is for the Board of State Canvassers to meet and certify,' said Tracy Wimmer, a spokeswoman for the Michigan secretary of state.
The four-member state board is expected to meet Monday and also is split with two Democrats and two Republicans.
The president's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, put out a statement Thursday morning indicating that he believed their move to rescind their votes had been successful.
'This morning we are withdrawing our lawsuit in Michigan as a direct result of achieving the relief we sought: to stop the election in Wayne County from being prematurely certified before residents can be assured that every legal vote has been counted and every illegal vote has not been counted,' Giuliani said in a statement.
There has been no evidence of widespread voting fraud in Michigan or any other state. Federal and state officials from both parties have declared the 2020 election safe and secure.
But Trump and his allies have spent two weeks raising false claims of fraud and refusing to concede to Biden.
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