At the start of 2020, Trump downsized the National Security Council by about a third. The NSC advises the President on threats, from international adversaries to terrorism to pandemics.
Amid the COVID19 pandemic, Trump removed several watch dogs tasked with oversight of their respective departments. Most notably, the individual responsible for leading a committee to provide oversight for $2 trillion in coronavirus stimulus, Glenn Fine, was replaced on April 6, 2020. Fine was the Department of Defense’s principal deputy inspector general since June 2015.
Others fired in the 6-week period included inspector generals for the Transportation Department, State Department, and Department of Health and Human Services.
Two months after Trump lost the 2020 election and dozens of failed lawsuits, he asserted Vice President Pence’s power to reject election results. The tweet came one day before Pence oversaw the certification of Electoral College votes.
The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.
Pence had reportedly already explained to Trump that he does not have the power to change election results. The Constitution’s 12 Amendment states on the Vice President’s role as President of the Senate:
The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted; — The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed;
Amid the Capitol riots the following day on January 6, 2021, Trump tweeted about Pence’s refusal to break the bounds of his Constitutional role. It was removed by Twitter shortly after.
On the evening of Election Day on November 3, 2020, Trump announced victory. However, over the next four days, Biden pulled ahead in several battleground states until his victory was announced on November 7. The Trump campaign launched a series of lawsuits alleging mass fraud across the nation.
The Claims
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lead lawyer, held a press conference at Four Seasons to highlight claims of fraud and their upcoming legal battles. The primary assertion was that fraud likely took place because of an influx of mail-in ballot votes, and a supposed lack of access by the Republican poll watchers for oversight in vote counting. Giuliani claimed that there had also been thousands of votes from deceased that were improperly counted.
The conference became notable for its location at Four Seasons Landscaping, and for taking place during the announcement that Biden had won. Situated next to a sex shop and crematorium, it was suspected that the location was booked in error, and was intended to be at a Four Seasons hotel. At the time the press conference was taking place, Trump was playing golf. It was then that Biden was announced the winner:
In another press conference on November 19, Giuliani reiterated his claims about fraud and the lack of adequate oversight from poll watchers, referencing the film My Cousin Vinny to make his case.
During the conference, Sidney Powell, another senior Trump lawyer, announced suits in Georgia and Michigan against Dominion, which provided substantial voting infrastructure across the country. Powell also alleged a global communist conspiracy behind the fraud. She was soon after dismissed from the legal team.
The lawsuits asserted a variety of claims. Examples included:
Mail-in ballots that hadn’t been accurately signed and marked on the outside
Mail-in ballots not in their original envelopes
Non-uniform curing, or fixing of ballot mistakes, being unconstitutional
State guidances on mail-in voting
Multiple votes from the same individuals
More votes than the voting population of the corresponding district
Higher rates of machines rejections for Republican ballots
“Over votes” from the use of Sharpies and its bleed through the paper
The Results
Trump’s legal team sought to delay or prevent certification of election results in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada. Certification is the legal process by which states officially submit their results, with deadlines defined by state law.
None of the suits were allowed to prevent certification. The one victory the Trump team achieved – the exclusion of votes in Pennsylvania which were too few to have any influence – was reversed by the state’s Supreme Court. In another instance, the Trump legal team spent $3 million for a recount in a Wisconsin county, only for more Biden votes to be discovered.
By the time a month had passed from the election, with 10 cases still pending, the Trump campaign had won zero out of 32 suits. While the campaign pledged more, the judges’ opinions on many of the dismissed suits – including by judges appointing by Trump – gave clear pictures of how little basis the suits had. One Michigan judge deemed the provided proof as “inadmissible hearsay within hearsay.” A Georgia judge said another suit “would breed confusion and disenfranchisement.” A Pennsylvania judge said of yet another suit, “This claim, like Frankenstein’s Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together.”
Transition & Certification
For three weeks after the election, the administration refused to begin the transition process to the President-elect. However, on November 24, head of the General Services Administration Emily W. Murphy confirmed that she would approve the formal transition process, freeing federal money and allowing security briefings for the Biden team.
On December 1, Attorney General Bill Barr said if there was fraud, there wasn’t enough to change the results of the election. This marked a notable shift for Barr, who had provided Trump legal cover through the Mueller investigation and impeachment over Ukrainian quid-pro-quo. Others who had contradicted Trump’s claims of voter fraud, including the head of the organization responsible for election security, were fired.
By the time a month had passed from the election, all of the battleground states in question had been certified.
The Tweetstorm
Over the course of the month following the election, Trump tweeted dozens of unfounded claims about mass fraud, all flagged by Twitter. While the following are examples of claims about victory, poll observers, fake news, rigging, and individual states, each were reiterated by Trump several times on Twitter.
THE OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED INTO THE COUNTING ROOMS. I WON THE ELECTION, GOT 71,000,000 LEGAL VOTES. BAD THINGS HAPPENED WHICH OUR OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE. NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WERE SENT TO PEOPLE WHO NEVER ASKED FOR THEM!
What does GSA being allowed to preliminarily work with the Dems have to do with continuing to pursue our various cases on what will go down as the most corrupt election in American political history? We are moving full speed ahead. Will never concede to fake ballots & “Dominion”.
Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous “80,000,000 votes” were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia & Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he’s got a big unsolvable problem!
The Wisconsin recount is not about finding mistakes in the count, it is about finding people who have voted illegally, and that case will be brought after the recount is over, on Monday or Tuesday. We have found many illegal votes. Stay tuned!
Why won’t Governor @BrianKempGA, the hapless Governor of Georgia, use his emergency powers, which can be easily done, to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State, and do a match of signatures on envelopes. It will be a “goldmine” of fraud, and we will easily WIN the state….
During his Thanksgiving proclamation, Trump suggested that Americans gather for the holidays:
I encourage all Americans to gather, in homes and places of worship, to offer a prayer of thanks to God for our many blessings.
Senior Trump officials also echoed the sentiment, despite it being contrary to the advice of the CDC. Most notably, senior COVID-19 advisor Dr. Scott Atlas suggested that in-person celebrations of Thanksgiving be held with elderly family members, as it may be “their final Thanksgiving.”
Scott Atlas resigned soon after amid the resulting out roar.
That Thanksgiving, the United States had totaled over 13.3 million cases of COVID-19 and suffered nearly 270,000 deaths.
Two weeks after the 2020 election, head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Chris Krebs was fired by Trump for contradicting the President’s claims of mass fraud.
Christopher Krebs, former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Wikipedia
CISA, an organization created by legislation signed by Trump, sought to ensure the integrity of the election, and after announced it to be among the most secure in American history. It also sought to dispel rumors and conspiracy theories directly on its website’s “rumor control” page. Many of these had been spread by Trump himself, who attacked Krebs on Twitter.
The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud – including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, “glitches” in the voting machines which changed…
On the day of his ousting, head of the CISA Chris Krebs also noted on Twitter that such claims were in every case “unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent,” and said of his agency, “we did it right.”
ICYMI: On allegations that election systems were manipulated, 59 election security experts all agree, "in every case of which we are aware, these claims either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent." #Protect2020https://t.co/Oj6NciYruD
Betsy DeVos, Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Education, was a longtime advocate of charter schools and redirecting tax dollars to private and Christian schools.
Betsy DeVos. Wikipedia
DeVos’ family was among the richest in the nation, with a worth over $5 billion. Her husband was former CEO of Amway and her brother founded the private military firm Blackwater. She and her family used their significant wealth for political influence within the Republican Party. In a 1997 editorial, she wrote, “I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect some things in return.”
In 2001, she said education reform was a means to “advance God’s kingdom.” In a separate interview, she said she sought “to impact our culture in ways that are not the traditional funding-the-Christian-organization route, but that really may have greater Kingdom gain in the long run by changing the way we approach things – in this case, the system of education in the country.”
Despite never being an educator, DeVos was nominated to be Secretary of Education by Trump. She was confirmed by the Senate in a narrow 50-50 vote, where the tie was broken by Vice President Mike Pence. During the confirmation hearings, DeVos said guns had a place in schools, giving the example of defense against grizzly bears.
During her tenure, DeVos sought to allocate federal funds to private schools by arguing it to be a component of “state’s rights.” She failed to divest from 24 assets as required by law, attempted to cut funding for the Special Olympics, revoked Obama-era rules about for-profit universities and sexual assault reporting on campuses, and was investigated for using personal email accounts to conduct government business.
In a 2018 60 Minutes interview, she struggled to answer various questions, including why the Michigan charter school programs she pushed in her home state of Michigan were failing students.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she attempted to redirect millions of dollars in relief from public schools to private and religious schools until the move was prevented by a federal court. She also called for the full re-opening of schools, saying, “there’s nothing in the data that suggests that kids being in school is in any way dangerous to them.”
The candidate, Marjorie Taylor Greene, is a vocal supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory and had also been criticized for a variety of racist comments. The Republican House minority leader called her remarks appalling.
After her primary win, Trump tweeted his support.
Congratulations to future Republican Star Marjorie Taylor Greene on a big Congressional primary win in Georgia against a very tough and smart opponent. Marjorie is strong on everything and never gives up – a real WINNER!
Trump has long been supported by QAnon, a conspiracy theorist movement that alleges Trump is leading the charge against a supposed left-wing cabal of pedophiles and Satan worshipers.
In May of 2020, Trump appointed longtime ally and support Louis DeJoy to Postmaster General of the United States Post Service. According to The Washington Post, DeJoy as of June, 2020, DeJoy and his wife had between $30 million and $75 million in assets of competitors to USPS, representing a clear conflict of interest. He has also donated $1.2 million to the Trump Victory Fund, and millions more to other Republican candidates and organizations.
Louis DeJoy. Wikipedia
In August of 2020, 23 senior officials were removed or re-assigned in what was called part of larger cost-cutting measures. Overtime pay for postal workers to ensure all mail is delivered on time was also removed, leading to backlogs across the country. Critics voiced concerns about delays in mail, especially ahead of the 2020 election. DeJoy’s USPS has also moved to nearly triple the cost of mail-in voting ballots, from 20 cents to 55 cents per ballot. The cost is paid for by the states, already experiencing severe budget issues amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The USPS has long been a target of those wishing to shift its responsibilities to private for-profit entities. In 2006, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act required that the USPS considers and provides funding for pension and healthcare benefits 75 years out, which no other government agency is required to do.
Reports surfaced of mail boxes and sorting machines being removed and destroyed in multiple states, slowing down mail delivery across the nation. Business deliveries, social security checks, and medicine were delayed.
DeJoy announced that he had no intentions of replacing the removed sorting machines, and the USPS prevented the release of data collected on mail delays.
In July 2019, Stephanie Grisham was selected to replace Sarah Sanders as White House press secretary and communications director. She held the position for 9 months until April 2020, and was the first to hold the position without ever holding a press conference.
Stephanie Grisham. Wikipedia
Grisham has been fired from previous jobs for faking expense reports and plagiarism. She also has had two DUIs, the more recent one occurring in 2016, for which she failed to appear in court before ultimately pleading guilty.
Grisham was replaced by Kayleigh McEnany, who was a vocal proponent of the Obama birther conspiracy.
