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What do Trump’s legal threats actually accomplish?

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The Washington Post

News, True Crime, Politics

4.14.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2020

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Election Day 2020 is behind us, but the presidential election is far from over.

Because of increased vote-by-mail and early voting, vote counts are taking longer than usual this year.

The race is very tight. The winner of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency is coming down to vote counts with very thin margins in a handful of battleground states.

While counts are still trickling in, President Trump has repeatedly made false claims of election fraud, declared victory in states where votes are still being counted, falsely tweeted that any ballots coming in after Election Day won’t be counted and pledged to get the courts to determine the election outcome.

The Trump campaign’s legal team has indeed launched efforts in the courts. His team has started a legal blitz — filing suits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia and requested a recount in Wisconsin.

So what do each of these legal moves actually do? Will these suits stop ongoing vote counts? Can they overturn a state’s results? Are they likely to ultimately affect the outcome of this presidential race?

And what other potential ways to contest the race does the president have as the rest of this election unfolds?

On this episode of the“Can He Do That?” podcast, election law expert Edward Foley explains how the Trump team’s fight in the courts could shape the final outcome.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Election Day 2020 is behind us, but the presidential election is far from over.

0:09.2

Because of increased vote by mail and early voting, vote counts are taking longer than usual

0:13.6

this year, and the race is tight, very tight.

0:16.9

The winner of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency is coming down to vote

0:21.9

counts with very thin margins into a handful of battleground states.

0:27.0

While counts are still trickling in, President Trump has repeatedly made false claims of

0:31.3

election fraud, declared victory in states where votes are still being counted, falsely

0:36.5

tweeted that any votes coming in after Election Day won't be counted, and he's pledged

0:40.7

to get the courts to determine the election outcome.

0:44.0

The Trump campaign's legal team has launched efforts in the courts.

0:47.6

His team has started a legal blitz, filing suits in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia,

0:53.0

and requesting a recount in Wisconsin.

0:55.6

So what do each of these legal moves actually do?

0:59.0

Will these suits stop ongoing vote counts?

1:01.3

Can they overturn a state's results?

1:03.5

Are they likely to ultimately affect the outcome of this presidential race?

1:08.2

And what other potential ways to contest the race does the president have as the rest of

1:13.6

this election unfolds?

1:18.8

This is Ken, he do that, a podcast that explores the powers and limitations of the American presidency.

1:24.2

I'm Allison Michaels.

1:26.2

The close margins in key states have really raised the stakes for litigation over which ballots

1:30.6

will count.

...

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