So, did you watch that absolutely bonkers “path to victory” press conference just held by Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis? If not, here’s Karl Rove’s summary via Fox News where he’s telling the Trump legal team it’s time to prove all of these allegations:
Karl Rove stops just short of calling the conspiracy theories espoused by Giuliani and Powell crazy pic.twitter.com/8uqFhQ3AAC
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) November 19, 2020
It’s just a fact that they’re running out of time at this point:
Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis says her team is merely giving an "opening statement."
Certification deadlines by state:
Georgia: November 20
Michigan: November 23
Pennsylvania: November 23https://t.co/NI3O2cr2LE— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) November 19, 2020
And law professor Jonathan Turley, who probably has been one of the friendliest legal pundits on the Trump campaign’s post-election legal strategy, had a rather sober assessment of the presser.
TL;DR: “There has not been a clear presentation of concrete evidence” and time is just about up.
THREAD (where he notably throws cold water on many of the claims made by Giuliani and company) ==>
Giuliani is raising the "curing" issue and the Equal Protection claim. The challenge is with the number of affected "cured" ballots and the tendency of courts to use the mootness doctrine to dismiss such challenges if insufficient to change the outcome. https://t.co/F8MAs4O6f4
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
Giuliani is quoting My Cousin Vinny on the inability of observers to observe from the required areas of separation. He is citing 60 affidavits. However, this claim has not been successful in the state courts.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
…CNN is not showing the press conference on the Trump claims of voter fraud.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
Giuliani is citing affidavits from 60 witnesses including three who say that Biden ballots were processed three times and other allegations. He is claiming 100 such witnesses in the case pending in Detroit and insists that they have enough challenged ballots to flip the state.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
On Wisconsin, Giuliani is claiming 60K in Milwaukee county and 40K in Madison county that he claims lack applications under state law.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
Giuliani is also claiming "over voting" in Wisconsin districts that reached 200 or 300 percent. He also says that they have over votes in Michigan.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
On Georgia, Giuliani is pledging a major lawsuit "tomorrow
" on many of the same grounds, including what he claims are double voting as well as vote changing.— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
On Arizona, he says "more than probably" they will bring a lawsuit in that state. He also alleged serious evidence of fraud in New Mexico. He claims that they lawsuits in key states raise over double the number of votes needed to flip the results.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
He is alleging a vast conspiracy of Democratic leaders to apply the same tactics. There is no evidence of such a conspiracy or "a common plan or common scheme" that comes "directly from the party . . . from the candidate."
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
In fairness to the Biden campaign, Giuliani keep referencing Biden touting his "voter fraud team." That is unfair. It was a reference to a team to combat voter fraud. Again, the use of that argument undermines these filings.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
Sidney Powell is up. Powell has been saying that she has clear proof of software fraud relating to the Dominion system. She is alleging a "massive" influence of "communist money" in the election, including the development of software in Venezuela.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
…She is raising an affidavit on the software under Hugo Chavez. He is arguing that he recognized the same pattern in the United States. She is alleging that the software literally flipped votes from Biden to Trump.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
…Powell is making connections to the Venezuelan government and Hugo Chavez, including allegations going back to the 2004 elections. She is citing Democratic members as raising the same concerns. However, there must still be concrete connections to this election to move a court.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
…Notably, such a software conspiracy would likely have been investigated by the DOJ but there is no evidence of such an investigation. The official who recently said that the election was the most secure in history was fired by President Trump over the objections of many.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
Powell is calling for a "full-scale criminal investigation" by the DOJ that focuses on Dominion. She is alleging that the "source code" used in the system should be the focus — an assertion that has been challenged by election and computer experts.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
Powell is livid and insists that "President Trump won by a landslide and we are going to prove it." This is going to explode on the Internet. I am very concerned about how this will fuel anger on both sides in a country that is already a powder keg.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
…Jenna Ellis is attacking the media which again is undermining these claims. There has not been a clear presentation of concrete evidence. While Ellis calls this the "opening statement," we are approaching the certification stage and running out of time for this evidence.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
I understand the demand to present this evidence in court, but some of us have been calling for weeks for the "ascertaining" of the election. The Administration should ascertain for Biden while they continue these challenges. That is not certification of the election.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
Giuliani is again citing the change in the vote overnight. That is not a compelling argument given the tallying of mail in votes. Again, there needs to be greater focus on the evidence of alleged systemic errors or fraud. We expected the mail in votes to be heavy for Biden.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
…Giuliani just suggested that we might need "a new agency to protect us" because of the bias of the FBI. Again, that type of rhetoric is less of an "opening argument" than a rave. It does not support these challenges or the evidence that they are suggesting is forthcoming.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
Back to the alleged evidence. Giuliani just said that they have completed three over vote analysis projects. Powell is saying that it is "beyond mathematical impossibility" that these votes can come in so heavily for Biden as these votes were counted…
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
…Powell is saying that this was due to Dominion "injecting votes" into the system. Again, that is going to ignite the Internet and, given his earlier tweet, suggests that President Trump is unlikely to concede this election.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
That was an excruciating 90 minutes. I have said it before. I understand the need to have time to gather evidence but time is of the essence. Certifications are going forward next week. This is not the time for "opening arguments" but evidence production.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) November 19, 2020
***
Related:
President Trump announces 'path to victory' news conference at about the same time Georgia will announce the results of the recount https://t.co/0tpKXaPt9K
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 19, 2020
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