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Trump Impeachment Redux

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Trump Impeachment Redux

President Trump had survived his 2020 Senate impeachment trial  and his retaliatory behavior following that acquittal put on full display his righteous view of what it meant disloyalty to him meant.

Then came the November election. It took several days to complete the count, but in the end Joe Biden won despite the President’s immediate and repeated false accusations of election fraud.

Save America March

He declared a “Save America March” for January 6, 2021, the day that Congress formally and Constitutionally counts the electoral votes and officially declares the next President.

On that day, President Trump, Donald Trump, Jr, and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani spoke to the crowd. Trump continued to prevaricate and repeat debunked claims of widespread election fraud. He incited the crowd with statements like, “We will never give up, we will never concede.”

Only seven minutes into the 75 minute speech, the crowd chanted: Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!

His inflammatory words pushed an already embittered and combative crowd to their successful, if temporary, violent takeover of the Capitol building forcing the members of Congress into hiding within. Dozens were injured and  five died, including a Capitol police officer.

Some Trump supporters said that Trump adversaries Antifa had surreptitiously incited the  insurrection. That it had lead the charge into the Capitol. FBI reports found no such evidence.

In the weeks following, dozens of insurrectionists were identified, arrested, and charged.

Calls for Trump’s removal from office immediately followed, albeit mainly from the Democrats, but from some Republicans as well.

The irony of his July 27, 2020 tweet was not lost on those who saw the riot as the insurrection it was. Most Republicans stuck their head in the ground or up their….

Trump Impeachment Redux

Monday 11 January 2021

Monday 11 January: the New York Times reported that House Democrats  introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump for inciting the mob that attacked the Capitol, vowing to press the charge as Republicans blocked a separate move to formally call on Vice President Mike Pence to strip him of power under the 25th Amendment.

The dual actions came as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her caucus sought to ratchet up pressure on Mr. Pence to intervene and push Trump to resign. If they did not, the Democrats promised immediate consequences for Trump’s role in an attack that put the lives of the vice president, members of Congress and thousands of staff working on Capitol Hill at risk as officials met to formalize President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.

“The president’s threat to America is urgent, and so too will be our action,” Pelosi said.

Trump Impeachment Redux

Pence Called Upon

Tuesday 12 January: the House voted to formally call on Vice President Mike Pence to use the 25th Amendment to strip President Trump of his powers after he incited a mob that attacked the Capitol, as lawmakers warned they would impeach the president the next day if Pence did not comply.

Pence sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi refusing to act.

Lawmakers, escorted by armed guards into a heavily fortified Capitol, adopted the nonbinding measure just before midnight largely along party lines. The final vote was 223 to 205 to implore Mr. Pence to declare Mr. Trump “incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers as acting president.” [NYT article]

Trump Impeachment Redux

Impeachment

from the New York Times

 

Wednesday 13 January: Democrats in the House of Representatives debated and voted on a single article of impeachment against President Trump, charging him with “incitement of insurrection” over last week’s violence at the U.S. Capitol.

Though he said he would not re-convene the Senate until January 19, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, was said to support the effort as a means of purging his party of Mr. Trump.

Trump Impeachment Redux

Giuliani Out

Monday 17 January: the New York Times reported a person close to President Trump said that Rudolph W. Giuliani, his personal lawyer, would not be taking part in the president’s defense in the Senate trial.

Trump met with Giuliani the night of January 16 at the White House and the next day the president began telling people that Giuliani was not going to be part of the team. It was unclear who would be a defense lawyer for Trump, given that many attorneys had privately said they would not represent him.

Giuliani himself at first said he was taking part in the trial and then a day later said he would had no involvement.

He told ABC News on Sunday 17 January that he would not be part of the defense, noting that he was a potential witness since he gave a speech at the January 6 rally.

Trump Impeachment Redux

McConnell Admits Trump Provocation

January 19, 2021: Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, said  that the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6 had been “provoked by the president and other powerful people,” stating publicly for the first time that he holds President Trump at least partly responsible for the assault.

“The mob was fed lies,” Mr. McConnell said, referring to attempts by Mr. Trump to overturn the election based on bogus claims of voter fraud.

“They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.” [NYT article]

McConnell Seeks delay

January 21, 2021: Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, asked Democrats  to delay the impeachment trial until mid-February. His request complicated Democrats  hopes of reaching a swift agreement to prevent the proceeding from interfering with the crucial first weeks of President Biden’s tenure. [NYT article]

Trump Impeachment Redux

Date Announced

January 22, 2021: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that House Democrats plan to send the article of impeachment to the Senate on Monday 25 January, triggering the start of the Senate’s trial of former President Donald Trump on Friday 29 January.

Unless senators strike an agreement to delay the trial, it would begin on Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET. [CNN article]

Trump Impeachment Redux

Senator Patrick J. Leahy

Aides and other officials said that Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Senate president pro tempore, was expected to preside over former President Donald J. Trump’s impeachment trial, assuming a role filled last year by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.

The Constitution states that the chief justice of the United States presides over any impeachment trial of the president or vice president. But it does not explicitly give guidance on who should oversee the proceeding for others, including former presidents, and it appeared that Chief Justice Roberts was uninterested in reprising a time consuming role that would insert him and the Supreme Court directly into the fractious political fight over Mr. Trump. [NYT article]

Trump Impeachment Redux

Article delivered/Senators Sworn In

January 25: at about 7 p.m. ET, U.S. House Clerk Cheryl Johnson, Rep. Jamie Raskin, and Rep. David Cicilline walked through the Capitol’s Statuary Hall and delivered the article of impeachment for incitement of insurrection against former President Trump to the Senate floor. The prompted preparations for an historic trial.

January 26: U.S. senators, who act as jurors in an impeachment trial,  were sworn in.

The trial itself scheduled begin on February 9, giving the nine House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team two weeks to file briefs and finalize their legal preparations. [NPR article]

Trump Impeachment Redux

February 2…pretrial briefs filed

Democrats

In a meticulously detailed 80-page pretrial brief filed with the Senate, the nine House Democrats preparing to prosecute the case next week argued that Mr. Trump was “singularly responsible” for a violent attack on the democratic process, and would do anything to “reassert his grip on power” if he were allowed to seek election again.

The impeachment managers argued that the riot at the Capitol on January 6 was the direct result of a campaign by former President Donald J. Trump to undermine American democracy and overthrow the election at any cost.

They warned that acquitting him and failing to disqualify him from future office could do grave damage to the nation. [NYT article]

Republicans

Trump’s lawyers filed an official response to the article of impeachment.

In their 14-page filing, the former president’s attorneys largely ignored the factual assertions contained in the House document, denying the allegation without presenting evidence, and asserting that it is up to the House to prove its case.

They argued that Trump did not incite the crowd on Jan. 6 “to engage in destructive behavior.” They focus much of their reply on the argument that the Constitution’s impeachment provision does not apply to a president who is no longer in office. [NPR story]

Trump Impeachment Redux

Trial Begins

Tuesday 9 February

The Senate voted  to proceed with the impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump, rejecting his defense team’s claim that it would be unconstitutional to prosecute a president after leaving office.

The 56-to-44 vote, with six Republicans joining all 50 Democrats, paved the way for the House Democrats trying the case to formally open their arguments on Feb 10 as they seek to prove that Mr. Trump incited an insurrection by encouraging supporters who stormed the Capitol last month and disrupted the counting of Electoral College votes.

The 44 Republicans who agreed with Trump’s claim that a former president cannot be subject to an impeachment trial seemed to all but guarantee that he would have the 34 votes he needs on the final verdict to avoid conviction. [NYT article]

Trump Impeachment Redux

Wednesday 10 February

The House managers presented for nearly eight hours on , walking the jury — senators who were in the Capitol during the attack on January 6 — through footage of the riot and of former President Trump’s speeches in the weeks leading up to it. Most of that had been publicly available and previously televised, but parts of their presentation — like security camera footage of staff members sheltering in offices and radio chatter from Capitol Police officers — had not been released before.

Trump’s lawyers sought to avoid arguing the case on its merits, saying the trial itself was in violation of the Constitution. [NYT article, NPR article]

Trump Impeachment Redux

Thursday 11 February

The NY Times reported that House impeachment managers had wrapped up their incitement case against former President Donald J. Trump by warning that he remained a clear and present danger to American democracy and could foment still more violence if not barred from running for office again.

With the sounds of a rampaging mob still ringing in the Senate chamber, the managers sought to channel the shock and indignation rekindled by videos they showed of last month’s attack on the Capitol into a bipartisan repudiation of the former president who inflamed his supporters with false claims of a stolen election.

“My dear colleagues, is there any political leader in this room who believes that if he’s ever allowed by the Senate to get back into the Oval Office, Donald Trump would stop inciting violence to get his way?” Representative Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland and the lead impeachment manager, asked the senators. “Would you bet the lives of more police officers on that? Would you bet the safety of your family on that? Would you bet the future of your democracy on that?”

Trump Impeachment Redux

Friday 12 February

The NY Times reported that lawyers for Donald J. Trump delivered an incendiary but brief defense of the former president , calling the House’s charge that he incited an insurrection at the Capitol a “preposterous and monstrous lie” as they falsely equated his conduct to Democrats’ own combative rhetoric.

Confident they have enough votes from Republicans to acquit Mr. Trump, the lawyers used only about three of their 16 allotted hours, allowing senators to proceed Friday afternoon to a period of questioning the prosecution and defense.

Earlier, the defense team had channeled the former president’s own combative style and embrace of falsehoods to claim, contrary to facts, that Mr. Trump never glorified violence during his presidency and that he consistently called for peace as the rampage at the Capitol unfolded. Showing video clips of Democrats urging their supporters to “fight” and Mr. Trump venerating “law and order,” they sought to rewrite not just the narrative of his campaign to overturn the election but that of his entire presidency.

“This trial is about far more than President Trump,” said Bruce L. Castor Jr., one of the lawyers, as he closed the defense. “It is about silencing the speech the majority does not agree with. It is about canceling 75 million Trump voters and criminalizing political viewpoints.”

Trump Impeachment Redux

Saturday 13 February

Mitch McConnell

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, privately told his colleagues he was ready to acquit Mr. Trump, confirming that an eventual conviction was exceedingly unlikely.

Acquittal

The voted on Saturday to acquit Donald J. Trump.

Voting 57-43, the Senate fell 10 votes short of the two-thirds necessary for conviction. Seven Republicans voted to find the former president guilty of “incitement of insurrection,” with all 50 Democrats, the most bipartisan support for conviction in any of the four presidential impeachments in U.S. history. [NYT article]

Senator Schumer responds

After the acquittal,  Senate majority leader Charles Schumer spoke. His beginning remarks were:

The case of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial was open and shut. President Trump told a lie — a big lie — that the election was stolen, and that he was the rightful winner. He laid the groundwork for this big lie in the months before the election, he told the big lie on election night, and he repeated the big lie more than 100 times in the weeks afterwards. He summoned his supporters to Washington, assembled them on the Ellipse, whipped them into a frenzy, and directed them at the Capitol.
And then he watched, as the violence unfolded, and the Capitol was breached, and his own Vice President fled for his life—and President Trump did nothing.
None of the facts were up for debate. We saw it. We heard it. We lived it. This was the first presidential impeachment trial in history in which all Senators were not only judges and jurors, but witnesses to the constitutional crime that was committed.
The former president inspired, directed, and propelled a mob to violently prevent the peaceful transfer of power, subvert the will of the people, and illegally keep that president in power.
[see text for Schumer’s complete remarks]
Senator Mitch McConnell responds

After Senator Schumer spoke, Senate minority leader McConnell spoke. He had voted to acquit because, he explained, Congress could not impeach and find guilty someone no longer President, but still condemned Trump.

January 6th was a disgrace.
American citizens attacked their own government. They used terrorism to try to stop a specific piece of democratic business they did not like.
Fellow Americans beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the Senate floor. They tried to hunt down the Speaker of the House. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the Vice President.
They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth — because he was angry he’d lost an election.
He added later:
There’s no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it.
[see text for McConnell’s complete remarks]
Trump responds

Later, former President Donald Trump thanked most of the Senate Republicans for his impeachment acquittal  adding that the political movement he began with his 2016 election has “only just begun.”

“We have so much work ahead of us, and soon we will emerge with a vision for a bright, radiant, and limitless American future,”

While thanking GOP allies, Trump – who was considering another presidential run – attacked Democrats by saying “it is a sad commentary on our times that one political party in America is given a free pass to denigrate the rule of law.” [NPR article]

Trump Impeachment Redux
Peace Love Art and Activism

December 2020 COVID 19

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December 2020 COVID 19

In November, voters had legitimately elected Joe Biden to be President.  Without any actual evidence, President Trump continuously  and baselessly claimed voter fraud despite State election officials’ diligent recount evidence to the contrary and judges’s tossing the dozens of President Trump’s lawyers challenges.

President Trump’s obsessive fixation on his defeat exacerbated his continued lackluster response to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic catastrophe.

December 2020 COVID 19

In US Earlier Than Thought

December 1: according to a new government study, the coronavirus was present in the U.S. weeks earlier than scientists and public health officials previously thought, and before cases in China were publicly identified,

The virus and the illness that it causes, COVID-19, was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, but it wasn’t until January 19 that the first confirmed COVID-19 case, from a traveler returning from China, was found in the U.S.

However, new findings published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases suggested that the coronavirus had infected people in the U.S. even earlier.

“SARS-CoV-2 infections may have been present in the U.S. in December 2019, earlier than previously recognized,” the authors said.   [NYT article]

1,477,230 COVID Deaths Worldwide

December 1: 63,750,408 cases worldwide; 1,477,230 deaths worldwide

274,386 COVID Deaths USA

December 1:  13,923,758 cases in the USA; 274,386 deaths in the USA.

Advisory Committee Recommendations

December 2: the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an independent panel advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, voted to recommend that residents and employees of nursing homes and similar facilities be the first people in the United States to receive coronavirus vaccines, along with health care workers who are especially at risk of being exposed to the virus.

The panel voted 13 to 1 during an emergency meeting to make the recommendation. The director of the C.D.C., Dr. Robert R. Redfield, was expected to decidequickly whether to accept it as the agency’s formal guidance to states as they prepared to start giving people the shots as soon as within two weeks.

“We are acting none too soon,” said Dr. Beth Bell, a panel member and global health expert at the University of Washington, noting that Covid-19 would kill about 120 Americans during the meeting alone. [NYT article]

December 2020 COVID 19

The UK First

December 3: the NYT reported that Britain gave emergency authorization to Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, leaping ahead of the United States to become the first Western country to allow mass inoculations against a disease that had killed more than 1.4 million people worldwide.

US Single-Day Record

December 3: the United States  recorded its single-worst daily death toll since the pandemic began, and on a day when Covid-19 hospitalizations also hit an all-time high, the pace of loss showed no signs of slowing any time soon.

Not since spring, during the pandemic’s first peak, were so many deaths reported. The high point then was 2,752 deaths on April 15. On this date, it was at least 2,760.

Hospitalizations from the virus topped 100,000 — more than double the number at the beginning of November. That was a clear indicator of what the days ahead may look like, experts say.

“If you tell me the hospitalizations are up this week, I’ll tell you that several weeks down the road, the deaths will be up,” said Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. [NYT article]

December 2020 COVID 19

December 4: the United States finished one of the very worst weeks since the coronavirus pandemic had began nine months ago.

On December 4, a national single-day record was set, with more than 226,000 new cases. It was one of many data points that illustrated the depth and spread of a virus that had killed more than 278,000 people in this country, more than the entire population of Lubbock, Texas, or Modesto, Calif., or Jersey City, N.J.

“It’s just an astonishing number,” said Caitlin Rivers, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “We’re in the middle of this really severe wave and I think as we go through the day to day of this pandemic, it can be easy to lose sight of how massive and deep the tragedy is.” [NYT story]

December 2020 COVID 19

1,527,144 COVID Deaths Worldwide

December 5: 66,358,071 cases worldwide; 1,527,144 deaths worldwide

285,668 COVID Deaths USA

December 5:  14,775,308 cases in the USA; 285,668 deaths in the USA.

December 2020 COVID 19

December 8: Britain’s National Health Service delivered its first shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, opening a mass vaccination campaign with little precedent in modern medicine and making Britons the first people in the world to receive a clinically authorized, fully tested vaccine.  [NYT story}

December 2020 COVID 19

1,553,081 COVID Deaths Worldwide

December 8: 68,047,740 cases worldwide; 1,553,081 deaths worldwide

290,474 COVID Deaths USA

December 8:  15,370,339 cases in the USA; 290,474 deaths in the USA.

December 2020 COVID 19

December 9: the NYT reported that federal data showed more than a third of Americans lived in areas where hospitals were running critically short of intensive care beds

Hospitals serving more than 100 million Americans reported having fewer than 15 percent of intensive care beds still available as of last previous week, according to a Times analysis of data reported by hospitals and released by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Many areas were even worse off: one in 10 Americans — across a large swath of the Midwest, South and Southwest — lived in an area where intensive care beds are either completely full, or fewer than 5 percent of beds are available. At these levels, experts say maintaining existing standards of care for the sickest patients may be difficult or impossible.

“There’s only so much our frontline care can offer, particularly when you get to these really rural counties which are being hit hard by the pandemic right now,” said Beth Blauer, director of the Centers for Civic Impact at Johns Hopkins University.

December 2020 COVID 19

December 11: the Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, clearing the way for millions of highly vulnerable people to begin receiving the vaccine within days.

The authorization was an historic turning point in a pandemic that had already taken more than 290,000 lives in the United States. With the decision, the United States became the sixth country — in addition to Britain, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico — to clear the vaccine. Other authorizations, including by the European Union, were expected within weeks. [NYT article]

December 2020 COVID 19

1,607,590 COVID Deaths Worldwide

December 12: 71,797,890 cases worldwide; 1,607,590 deaths worldwide

303,600 COVID Deaths USA

December 12:  16,359,904 cases in the USA; 303,600 deaths in the USA.

December 2020 COVID 19

December 14: the first shots were given in the American mass vaccination campaign against the coronavirus pandemic, which had killed more people in the United States — over 300,000 — than in any other country and had taken a particularly devastating toll on people of color. [NYT story]

1,627,068 COVID Deaths Worldwide

December 14: 73,149,501 cases worldwide; 1,627,068 deaths worldwide

307,874 COVID Deaths USA

December 14:  16,915,194 cases in the USA; 307,874 deaths in the USA.

December 2020 COVID 19

December 15: NPR reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the first coronavirus test that people will be able to buy at a local store without a prescription and use for immediate results at home to find out if they’re positive or negative.

The test would cost about $30 and be available by January, according to the Australian company that makes it, Ellume.

December 2020 COVID 19

Employers/Vaccinations

December 2020 COVID 19

December 16:  the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission  [EEOC] issued guidelines regarding COVID vaccinations and employers. The guidance said that employers can require workers to get a Covid-19 vaccine and bar them from the workplace if they refuse/ [NYT article]

Moderna Vaccine

December 18: the Food and Drug Administration authorized the coronavirus vaccine made by Moderna for emergency use, allowing the shipment of millions more doses across the nation and intensifying the debate over who will be next in line to get inoculated. [NYT article]

1,683,882 COVID Deaths Worldwide

December 19: 76,131,763 cases worldwide; 1,683,882 deaths worldwide

320,845 COVID Deaths USA

December 19:  17,888,353 cases in the USA; 320,845 deaths in the USA.

December 2020 COVID 19

COVID variant

December 21: the NYT reported that, Britain, struggling to contain an outbreak of what officials said was a more contagious variant of the coronavirus, found itself increasingly isolated  as nations raced to ban travelers from the country, suspending flights and cutting off trade routes.

France imposed a 48-hour suspension of freight transit across the English Channel, leaving thousands of truck drivers stranded in their vehicles  as the roads leading to England’s ports were turned into parking lots.

1,748,571 COVID Deaths Worldwide

December 24: 79,722,398 cases worldwide; 1,748,571 deaths worldwide

337,066 COVID Deaths USA

December 24:  19,111,326 cases in the USA; 337,066 deaths in the USA.

December 2020 COVID 19

Variant Precautions 

December 24:  as a new highly transmissible variant of the virus appeared first in Britain, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the United States would require all airline passengers arriving from Britain to test negative for the coronavirus within 72 hours of their departure.

The rule would apply to Americans as well as foreign citizens, and would require passengers to show proof of a negative result on a genetic test, known as a P.C.R., or an antigen test.

1,764,393 COVID Deaths Worldwide

December 26: 80,709,594 cases worldwide; 1,764,393 deaths worldwide

339,921 COVID Deaths USA

December 26:  19,433,847 cases in the USA; 339,921 deaths in the USA.

December 2020 COVID 19

EU Rollout

December 27: the NY Times reported that the European Union began a COVID vaccination campaign to  inoculate more than 450 million people across the EU.

Variant

December 28: Colorado, state officials said that a case of the new coronavirus variant, initially seen in the United Kingdom, was found marking the first time the variant had been officially documented in the United States.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said that the man who tested positive was in his 20s, had not been traveling and was currently isolating.

“The individual has no close contacts identified so far, but public health officials are working to identify other potential cases and contacts through thorough contact tracing interviews,” the statement said. [NPR story]

1,799,946 COVID Deaths Worldwide

December 29: 82,464,719 cases worldwide; 1,799,946 deaths worldwide

346,579 COVID Deaths USA

December 29:  19,977,704 cases in the USA; 346,579 deaths in the USA.

December 2020 COVID 19

UK/AstraZeneca

December 30: health officials in the U.K. authorized the AstraZeneca-Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine giving the nation a second option for inoculation against the coronavirus.

The government said it would begin rolling out the inexpensive and easy-to-store vaccine beginning January 4, 2021. It ordered 100 million doses — enough to vaccinate 50 million residents, or three-quarters of the country’s population.

The government had already given first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to more than 600,000 Britons. [NPR article]

December 2020 COVID 19

Previous and subsequent COVID-19 posts:

Peace Love Art and Activism

Defeated Trump Denies

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Defeated Trump Denies

Since 1845, Election Day in the United States has been the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. In the year 2020 that day was November 3. We didn’t know results at the end of that day and we would not know results for nearly a week…

Final presidential vote totals would be:
Joe Biden: 81,268,867 (51.3%)…306 electoral votes.
Donald Trump: 74,216,747  (46.8%)…232 electoral votes.
We first had to sludge through many days of dissent and denial…

Tuesday 3 November

November 3, 2020: there were thousands of names on ballots all over the United States, but there were really only two: Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Millions had already voted. Some in person and some by mail.

On Tuesday night there were still several key states including Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, that could not yet complete their count. “Too close to call” became the catchphrase.

Joe Biden asked voter for patience. Donald Trump predicted victory in States where he was ahead, but where thousands of mail in ballots were yet to be counted. Historic numbers of Americans had voted by mail in because of the ongoing COVID pandemic and some States using that method nearly exclusively.

Many more Democrats than Republicans had used the mail. President Trump himself may have been responsible as he had posted more than 70 tweets casting doubt on mail-in voting, referencing voter fraud or “rigged” elections since April. Trump himself had, in the past, used mail-in or absentee ballots.

A Lie Well-stuck to is as Good as the Truth
Defeated Trump Denies

Wednesday 4 November

By Wednesday, the situation was similar. The leads that Trump held in some States dwindled as those mail in ballots were counted. Trump promoted the false notion that those ballots were invalid because election day had already ended. Pennsylvania, a key state, had ruled before Election Day that no mail in ballots could be counted until after Election Day.

Defeated Trump Denies

Thursday 5 November

On November 5, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Trump campaign to stop vote-counting in Pennsylvania. The Trump campaign had alleged that its observers were not given access to observe the vote, but its lawyers admitted during the hearing that its observers were already present in the vote-counting room.

On the same day, Judge James Bass,  Georgia judge,  dismissed a lawsuit by Trump’s campaign that alleged dozens of late ballots were mingled with on-time ballots in Georgia.

“The court finds there is no evidence that the ballots referenced in the petition were received after 7 p.m. on Election Day, thereby making those ballots invalid,” Bass said in a ruling.

The same day, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens dismissed a Trump campaign’s lawsuit requesting a pause in vote-counting to allow access to observers. The judge noted that vote-counting had already finished in Michigan and also noted that the official complaint did not state “why”, “when, where, or by whom” an election observer was allegedly blocked from observing ballot-counting in Michigan.

Defeated Trump Denies

Friday 6 November

Although some State regulations required that mail in ballots be received by Election Day itself, some States allowed a longer period. Such States included Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Though counting continued, Joe Biden’s overtook Trump in both Georgia and Pennsylvania.

Though ahead, the Biden’s narrow margin of victory in Georgia automatically requires a recount.

Defeated Trump Denies

Saturday 7 November

The Associated Press, Fox News, and the other major networks call Pennsylvania for Biden, thus putting him above the required 270 electoral votes. Celebrations spontaneously erupt in various “blue” areas, but Trump supporters protest in front of various state capitol buildings across the country.

At the time, Trump was playing golf and later refused to concede. At the same time, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani held a press conference in the parking lot of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a business in Philadelphia. Giuliani announced the president’s intention to litigate over claims of voter fraud.

Defeated Trump Denies

Sunday 8 November

Although the nonpartisan Center for Presidential  Transition released a statement urging Trump to let the transition proceed, Emily W. Murphy, administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), refused to sign a letter allowing Biden’s transition team to formally begin work.

On Twitter, Trump continued to hype his claims of election fraud. He sent 25 tweets with links to right-wing media supporting him or rumors about the count in some states — many of which were flagged by the platform as disputed.

Defeated Trump Denies

Monday 9 November

President-elect Biden states at a press conference: This election is over. It’s time to put aside the partisanship and the rhetoric that is designed to demonize one another.

Trump continued to file challenging lawsuits in various key States.

Defeated Trump Denies

A Week Later…

Tuesday 10 November

Trump continued his refusal to concede and continued to unsuccessfully challenge the results. Biden said that Trump’s refusal is “an embarrassment, quite frankly … At the end of the day, you know, it’s all going to come to fruition on January 20”

The New York Times reported that it had contacted the offices of the top election officials in at least 45 states and not one of them suspected or had evidence of voting fraud.

The Nevada Supreme Court dismissed the Trump campaign’s appeal challenging Clark County, Nevada’s election processes, ruling that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joked in a press conference about preparing for a “second Trump administration,” for which he was later praised by the president.

Thursday 12 November

Two coalitions of federal and state election officials, the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council, issued a joint statement saying, “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

The Trump administration prevented President-elect Biden from receiving messages from foreign leaders according to State Department officials familiar with the messages.

Friday 13 November

The Third Circuit Court in Wayne County, Michigan rejected a petition by two Republican poll challengers seeking to stop the county’s vote certification, alleging fraud by poll workers. The court ruled that the plaintiffs’ “interpretation” of the events were “incorrect and not credible” and “decidedly contradicted” an election expert that was put forth by the defense.

Seven days after Biden’s win was confirmed , he still did not have access to the Presidential Daily Brief — the highest level of security information–as he was supposed to.

Sunday 15 November

In a series of tweets, Trump stated that Biden “won because the Election was Rigged”, referencing an unproven conspiracy theory held by right wing groups alleging that voter tabulation machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems had been compromised, resulting in millions of votes for Trump being deleted or switched to Biden. Trump further tweeted that Biden “only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go.”

Defeated Trump Denies

Two Weeks Later

Tuesday 17 November

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court delivered a 5-2 decision against Trump’s lawsuit alleging that its poll observers were unlawfully restricted from inspecting the counting in Philadelphia.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that an audit of Georgia’s voting machines had found no evidence of tampering.

The Trump campaign filed a new lawsuit in the Nevada First Judicial District Court alleging that “fraud and abuse renders the purported results of the Nevada election illegitimate” and thus either Trump “be declared the winner of the Election in Nevada” or that the results be annulled and no Nevada winner certified.

Wednesday 18 November

The Trump campaign filed a third version of its federal lawsuit over the Pennsylvania results, claiming that 1.5 million mail-in or absentee votes in seven counties should be thrown out and thus either he should be named the winner in Pennsylvania or the Pennsylvania Legislature should be given the authority to appoint presidential electors pledged to Trump.

Thursday 19 November

The Maricopa County Superior Court dismissed the Arizona Republican Party’s lawsuit seeking to order an audit of the county’s ballots.

US District Judge Steven D. Grimberg dismissed the Trump campaign’s lawsuit seeking to delay the certification of Georgia’s election results, ruling, “It is well established that garden-variety election disputes do not rise to the level of a constitutional deprivation. The fact that [Trump] didn’t win doesn’t rise to the level of harm“.

Friday 20 November

Nevada District Court Judge Gloria Sturman dismissed a lawsuit brought by conservative activist Sharron Angle and her organization, the Election Integrity Project seeking to nullify the entire Nevada November election, not just the presidential results. Sturman noted in her ruling that “if the election was thrown out there would be no one holding office, including me”

Saturday 21 November

US District Judge Matthew W. Brann dismissed the Trump’s campaign lawsuit seeking to block the certification of the Pennsylvania results, ruling that the president’s legal team merely presented “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations” that were “unsupported by evidence.”

Sunday 22 November

Michael Steel, a spokesperson for Dominion Voting Systems, defended the company’s voting machines during an appearance on Fox News Sunday, saying, “It is not physically possible for our machines to switch votes from one candidate to the other.”

Trump appealed to the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to overturn Judge Brann’s previous day ruling and block the certification of the Pennsylvania results.

Three Weeks Later

Tuesday 24 November

President Trump, Emily Murphy, and the GSA reversed course and formally allowed Biden’s transition team to have access to the required federal resources.

Minnesota, Nevada, and Pennsylvania certify their respective election results, with Biden as the official winner in all three states

Thanksgiving 26 November

During a Thanksgiving Day press conference, his first such presser since the election, Trump admitted that he would leave the White House if Biden were officially declared the winner of Electoral College, but added, “If they do, they made a mistake … It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede“.

Friday 27 November

The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Trump campaign’s challenge to the Pennsylvania election results, ruling that the “campaign’s claims have no merit … Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here”.

The recount in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin ended with Biden getting a net increase of 132 votes.

Monday 30 November

Arizona and Wisconsin certified their respective election results, with Biden as the official winner in both states

Defeated Trump Denies

December 2020

A month later

Tuesday 1 December: the Trump campaign filed a new lawsuit in the Wisconsin Supreme Court seeking to overturn the state’s certified election results.

In an interview with the Associated Press, US Attorney General William Barr stated that the Department of Justice  had not found any evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the election.

Wednesday 2 December

Trump posted a pre-recorded video address on Facebook, repeating his allegations of voter fraud.

Thursday 3 December

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch bid by Republican challengers to halt further action on the certification of the state’s election results.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear Trump’s latest lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s certified election results, stating that the case needed to go through state’s lower courts first. (see Dec 14 below)

Friday 4 December

The Michigan Court of Appeals rejected the Trump campaign’s appeal to overturn a lower court’s previous decision, ruling that “the only valid recourse at the time would have been to request a recount, but the window to do so had passed … Because plaintiff failed to follow the clear law in Michigan relative to such matters, their action is moot.”

The Minnesota Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group of Minnesota Republicans seeking to stop the certification of the state’s election results and order a full recount. The ruling cited the late filing of the petition on November 24, just hours before the elections results were officially certified, and that two of their key arguments regarded events and policies that took place before early voting began on September 18.

With California certifying its election results, Biden officially clinched enough pledged electors needed for the December 14 Electoral College vote to capture the presidency.

Monday 7 December

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger officially re-certified Georgia’s election results following the second state recount completed during the previous week, still showing Biden winning the state.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in order to invalidate the presidential election results in those states; the lawsuit, Texas v. Pennsylvania, is filed with the U.S. Supreme Court .

Defeated Trump Denies

Five Weeks Later

Tuesday 8 December

The Nevada Supreme Court unanimously ruled to dismiss the Trump’s campaign’s appeal seeking to overturn the state’s election results, affirming the Nevada First Judicial District Court’s ruling that they failed to identify any direct “unsupported factual findings”

Wednesday 9 December

U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa tossed out a lawsuit by Arizona voters, the last one against the state’s election results, citing “baseless claims.”

“Plaintiffs append over 300 pages of attachments, which are only impressive for their volume,” Humetewa said. “The various affidavits and expert reports are largely based on anonymous witnesses, hearsay, and irrelevant analysis of unrelated elections.”

U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper dismissed  Trump team attorney Sidney Powell’s lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission, stating that the “federal court has no authority or jurisdiction to grant the relief the remaining plaintiff seeks.”

Friday 11 December

The U.S. Supreme Court issued an unsigned order declining to hear Texas v. Pennsylvania on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article Three of the Constitution: “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections“. Justice Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, partially dissents, writing that the Court was duty-bound to hear the case, referencing Arizona v. California: “I would therefore grant the motion to file the bill of complaint but would not grant other relief, and I express no view on any other issue.”

Saturday 12 December

U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig dismissed the Trump campaign’s lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission, ruling that the allegations “fail as a matter of law and fact.”

Trump supporters held rallies in Washington, D.C. in front of the Supreme Court, the Capitol, and the Department of Justice.

Sunday 13 December

In an interview with Fox News that aired on Sunday and was taped on December 12,  President Trump said, “It’s not over. We keep going.  And we’re going to continue to go forward.”

Defeated Trump Denies

Six Weeks Later

Monday 14 December
Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Supreme Court denied President Trump’s attempt to invalidate more than 200,000 votes in the state’s two biggest Democratic bastions for the second time this month.

The ruling ends the president’s efforts to overturn the result of the election just hours before the Electoral College is set to cast the state’s 10 votes for President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

In a 4-3 decision, the conservative-leaning court rejected the Trump campaign’s attempt to throw out votes in Milwaukee County and Dane County, which includes Madison.

Electoral College

Defeated Trump Denies

December 14: the NY Times reported that Joseph R. Biden Jr. was affirmed as the president-elect as members of the Electoral College pushed him past the 270 threshold to win the White House, all but ending a disruptive chapter in American history in which President Trump sought to use legal challenges and political pressure to overturn the results of a free and fair election.

Russia

The president-elect passed the threshold after California cast its 55 votes for Biden, capping a day marked by heightened security in battleground states and an unusual level of scrutiny for what is normally a formal, procedural affair.

December 15: NPR reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had congratulated Joe Biden on his win in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, becoming one of the last world leaders to do so.

“For my part, I am ready for interaction and contacts with you,” Putin said in his message to Biden, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

December 28, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden that his transition team had encountered “roadblocks” from political leaders at both the Defense Department and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and called on the Trump administration to provide more information to avoid hiccups that adversaries could take advantage of during the transfer of power.

“My team needs a clear picture of our force posture around the world and our operations to deter our enemies,” Biden said in remarks following a meeting with national security and foreign policy advisers in Wilmington, Del. “We need full visibility into the budget planning underway at the Defense Department and other agencies in order to avoid any window of confusion or catch-up that our adversaries may try to exploit.”

“We have encountered roadblocks from the political leadership at the department of defense and the Office of Management and Budget. Right now, we just aren’t getting all of the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas,” he continued. “It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.” [The Hill article]

Defeated Trump Denies

2021

Friday 1 January

Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle of the Eastern District of Texas dismissed a lawsuit led by President Trump’s allies in Congress that aimed to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the election, dealing a blow to lawmakers’ last-ditch effort to challenge President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.

Kernodle ruled that Republican lawmakers, led by Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas, lacked the proper standing to sue Mr. Pence in the matter. The lawsuit challenged the more than century-old law that governs the Electoral College process, in an attempt to expand an otherwise ceremonial role into one with the power to reject electoral votes that were cast for Mr. Biden. [NYT article]

Saturday 3 January

Vice President Mike Pence signaled support for a futile Republican bid to overturn the election in Congress on January 5, after 11 Republican senators and senators-elect said that they would vote to reject President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory when the House and Senate met to formally certify it.

The announcement by the senators — and Pence’s move to endorse it — reflected a groundswell among Republicans to defy the unambiguous results of the election and indulge President Trump’s attempts to remain in power with false claims of voting fraud.

Every state in the country had certified the election results after verifying their accuracy, many following postelection audits or hand counts. Judges across the country, and a Supreme Court with a conservative majority, had rejected nearly 60 attempts by Trump and his allies to challenge the results. [NYT article]

Defeated Trump Denies
Sunday 3 January 
Trump asks to “find” some votes

President Trump demanded that Georgia’s Republican secretary of state “find” him enough votes to overturn the presidential election, and vaguely threatened him with “a criminal offense,” during an hourlong telephone conversation with him on Saturday, according to audio excerpts from the conversation.

Mr. Trump, who had spent almost nine weeks making false conspiracy claims about his loss to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., told Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, that Mr. Raffensperger should recalculate the vote count so Mr. Trump would win the state’s 16 electoral votes.

“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Mr. Trump said on the call, a recording of which was obtained by The Washington Post, which published excerpts from the audio on its website Sunday. “Because we won the state.”

President Trump demanded that Georgia’s Republican secretary of state “find” him enough votes to overturn the presidential election, and vaguely threatened him with “a criminal offense,” during an hourlong telephone conversation with him on Saturday, according to audio excerpts from the conversation.

Mr. Trump, who has spent almost nine weeks making false conspiracy claims about his loss to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., told Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, that Mr. Raffensperger should recalculate the vote count so Mr. Trump would win the state’s 16 electoral votes.

“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Mr. Trump said on the call, a recording of which was obtained by The Washington Post, “Because we won the state.” [NYT article]

US defense secretaries

All 10 living former US defense secretaries declared that the US presidential election is over in a forceful public letter published in The Washington Post as President Donald Trump continued to deny his election loss to Joe Biden.

The letter — signed by Dick Cheney, James Mattis, Mark Esper, Leon Panetta, Donald Rumsfeld, William Cohen, Chuck Hagel, Robert Gates, William Perry and Ashton Carter — amounted to a remarkable show of force against Trump’s subversion efforts just days before Congress was set to count Electoral College votes.
“Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived,” the group wrote. [CNN article]
Defeated Trump Denies

Nine Weeks Later

January 6 Insurrection

January 6, 2021: on the day that the joint Houses of Congress convened to confirm the election of Joe Biden, a mob of President Trump’s supporters surged into the U.S. Capitol with relative ease.

Armed with pro-Trump banners, the rioters far outnumbered and swiftly overwhelmed the U.S. Capitol Police as they charged up the steps, smashed windows, broke into the Senate chamber and occupied offices, including the one belonging to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

More than 50 people were arrested, at least a dozen police were injured, and officers confiscated guns, pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails. [NPR story]

January 7, the day after

Ending a day of public silence, Trump posted a 2½-minute video on Twitter denouncing the mob attack in a way that he had refused to do a day earlier. Reading dutifully from a script prepared by his staff, he declared himself “outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem” and told those who broke the law that “you will pay.”

While he did not give up his false claims of election fraud, he finally conceded defeat. “A new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.”

Trump initially resisted taping the video, agreeing to do it only after aides pressed him and he appeared to suddenly realize he could face legal risk for prodding the mob, coming shortly after the chief federal prosecutor for Washington left open the possibility of investigating the president for illegally inciting the attack by telling supporters to march on the Capitol and show strength. [NYT article]

Resignations

Following the insurrection, several Trump administration officials announced that they were resigning

Defeated Trump Denies

Social Media Blowback

By January 11, several major social media platforms banned or restricted Donald Trump:

  • Reddit: banned the subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump,
  • Twitch: disabled Trump’s channel, citing the move as a “necessary step” to protect its community and “prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence.”
  • Shopify: ook down two online stores affiliated with Trump — his organization and his campaign’s merchandise sites — for violating its policies on supporting violence.
  • Twitter: announced  the platform will permanently ban President Trump’s account effective immediately.
  • Google: pulled Parler, a social media app for conservatives and far-right extremists.
  • YouTube: accelerated its enforcement of election misinformation and voter fraud claims against Trump and other channels. 
  • Facebook & Instagram:  banned Donald Trump from posting on his Facebook accounts for at least two weeks until the transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden was complete.
  • Snapchat: disabled Trump’s Snapchat account because it believed the account promoted and spread hate and incited violence.
  • Tictok: removed content violations and redirected hashtags like #stormthecapitol and #patriotparty to its community guidelines.
  • Apple: threatened to remove right-wing-friendly social media app Parler from its App Store if Parler did not lay out a plan to moderate its content.
  • Discord: banned server The Donald
  • Pinterest: had been limiting hashtags related to pro-Trump topics such as #StopTheSteal since around the November election.
  • Stripe: would no longer process payments for President Trump’s campaign, which continued to fundraise.

Political Contribution Blowback

According to the DealBook newsletter, a number of companies reviewed political contributions via their corporate political action committees, a

  • Morgan Stanley suspended all PAC contributions to members of Congress who did not vote to certify the results of the Electoral College, a spokesman said.

  • Marriott said it would pause donations from its PAC “to those who voted against certification of the election,” a spokeswoman told DealBook. She did not say how long the break would last or how the hotel chain would decide when to resume donations.

  • The chemicals giant Dow said it was suspending all PAC contributions “to any member of Congress who voted to object to the certification of the presidential election.” The suspension will last for one election cycle — two years for representatives and up to six years for senators.

  • Shopify terminated online stores affiliated with President Trump. “Based on recent events, we have determined that the actions by President Donald J. Trump violate our Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits promotion or support of organizations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause,” the company said in a statement.

  • Hallmark requested the return of campaign contributions its PAC made to Senators Josh Hawley Missouri and Roger Marshall of Kansas, both of whom voted against certifying the presidential election results. “Hallmark believes the peaceful transition of power is part of the bedrock of our democratic system, and we abhor violence of any kind,” the company said in a statement. “The recent actions of Senators Josh Hawley and Roger Marshall do not reflect our company’s values.”

Blue Cross Blue Shield, Boston Scientific and Commerce Bancshares are taking a similar, targeted approach to donation freezes. The newsletter Popular Information tracked  the responses of these and other companies that donated to lawmakers who challenged the election result. [NYT article]

Defeated Trump Denies

More Court Refusals

Monday 11 January: in a series of unsigned orders, the Supreme Court refused requests from President Trump and his allies to expedite consideration of various challenges to the results of the presidential election. The court would consider whether to hear the cases in the ordinary course in the next month or two, but the orders in effect made the challenges moot.

As is the court’s custom, the orders gave no reasons. There were no dissents noted.

Trump had hoped that the court, which included three of his appointees, would overturn the results of the election. But the court, notably in a terse order rejecting an audacious lawsuit in which Texas sought to sue four other states, has consistently rejected the requests. [NYT article]

Defeated Trump Denies

Wednesday 10 January 2021

Defeated Trump Denies

Prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia initiated a criminal investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s attempts to overturn Georgia’s election results, including a phone call he made to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Mr. Trump pressured him to “find” enough votes to help him reverse his loss.

fani Willis, the recently elected Democratic prosecutor in Fulton County, sent a letter to numerous officials in state government, including Mr. Raffensperger, requesting that they preserve documents related to Trump’s call, according to a state official with knowledge of the letter. The letter explicitly stated that the request was part of a criminal investigation, said the official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal matters.

The inquiry cames as Trump faced a his second impeachment trial. [NYT article]

Defeated Trump Denies

Seizing Voting Machines

February 1, 2022: the NY Times reported that “…six weeks after Election Day, with his hold on power slipping, President Donald J. Trump directed his lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, to make a remarkable call. Mr. Trump wanted him to ask the Department of Homeland Security if it could legally take control of voting machines in key swing states, three people familiar with the matter said.

Mr. Giuliani did so, calling the department’s acting deputy secretary, who said he lacked the authority to audit or impound the machines.”

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