Trump withdraws Michigan lawsuit deemed as racist attempt to disenfranchise Black voters
The lawsuit focused on the counting of absentee ballots at TCF Center in Detroit, where there are predominantly Black voters.
The Trump campaign has withdrawn a federal lawsuit filed last week that sought to stop the certification of Michigan’s election results.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump‘s legal team told a federal court that it would not pursue the lawsuit, citing two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers who do not want to certify the county’s election results.
“The Wayne County board of county canvassers met and declined to certify the results of the presidential election,” read a three-sentence filing from campaign attorney Thor Hearne, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Read More: Michigan resident slams GOP who tried to stop verification: ‘Completely racist’
Rudy Giuliani, who also joined Trump’s legal team, echoed Hearne’s filing writing: “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.”
The lawsuit focused on the counting of absentee ballots at TCF Center in Detroit, where there are predominantly Black voters.
The lawsuit filed by the Trump campaign and the decision not to certify the votes by Wayne County Board of Canvassers Chairwoman Monica Palmer and GOP member William Hartmann was slammed as racist by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and head of the Michigan Democratic Party Lavora Barnes, among others.
The Trump campaign sighted affidavits filed by Palmer and Hartmann as proof of misconduct and irregularities in Michigan’s election process, which has been disputed repeatedly. The Detroit Free Press reports that its own review found no evidence of widespread fraud or misconduct.
Read More: GOP canvassers again oppose certifying Detroit-area votes
Despite initially voting to not certify the votes in Wayne County only to reverse course within hours, Palmer and Hartmann again rescinded their certification late Wednesday. The two Republicans said 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.
“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.”
The legal and political battle over the counting of votes in Wayne County, Michigan, follows weeks of President Trump and his allies falsely claiming election fraud and misconduct throughout the country, despite providing no evidence and Trump’s own federal government saying that the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history.”
Days later, Trump fired the DHS official who issued the statement about the security of the election security. The decision was derided as a gross power move on behalf of Trump to punish those who refuse to back up his false claims.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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