US President Donald Trump and his legal team on Thursday intensified their campaign to change the results of the recent presidential elections, with the President reaching out directly to Michigan officials and Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani holding a combative press conference.
The Hill reported that Trump has invited some of Michigan's top Republicans to the White House, indicating that he may be seeking a way around the results, as President-elect Joe Biden is projected to win 306 electoral votes compared to Trump's 232.
The President also reached out to officials in Wayne County who had sought to block the certification of votes there. The effort by those officials brought calls of racism from Detroit's mayor given the number of votes by Black Americans that might have been overturned.
Since Biden's projected victory in the presidential polls, Trump has made debunked allegations that the election was rigged and has refused to concede defeat to Biden, while his campaign has filed several lawsuits in battleground states.
Separately, Giuliani and a team of attorneys, overseeing Trump's legal challenges to the vote count in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and elsewhere, raised claims of voter fraud, and further alleged that the president was a victim of a scheme by dozens of Democratic election officials from major cities which contributed to Biden securing more votes.
"This was not an individual idea of 10 or 12 Democrat bosses. This was a plan. You would have to be a fool not to realise that," Giuliani said at the presser from the Republican National Committee headquarters.
According to The Hill, Giuliani and attorney Sidney Powell made clear that their goal was to overturn the results in several states Biden is leading or has been projected as the winner, although both attorneys failed to provide any evidence of their claims beyond holding up sworn affidavits from citizens who alleged that they witnessed suspicious behaviour.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign dropped its federal lawsuit in Michigan that alleged voting irregularities and asked the court to stop certification of the votes in Wayne County, home to Detroit.
Amid allegations of electoral fraud by Trump, Georgia on Thursday finished its state-wide audit of the closely contested elections, confirming Biden's victory over Trump, according to a news release from the Secretary of State's office.
