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Trump's lawyers withdrew from representing his campaign in its biggest Pennsylvania election lawsuit one day before the hearing

Nov 17, 2020, 16:27 IST
Business Insider
President Donald TrumpREUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
  • Three of the four lawyers representing the Trump campaign in its biggest election-related lawsuit in Pennsylvania withdrew from the case one day before the hearing.
  • In the wide-ranging federal lawsuit against Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, the Trump campaign alleged widespread irregularities in the way ballots were counted throughout the state.
  • The suit claims that ballots were handled differently in different counties and that huge piles of mail ballots were illegally counted. The campaign submitted a revised version of the lawsuit days later that retracted many of its original allegations.
  • Boockvar's office argued that the lawsuit was filed "on the basis of repeatedly rejected legal theories and no evidence."
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On the eve of a hearing in the biggest election-related lawsuit that President Donald Trump's campaign has filed in Pennsylvania, three of the four lawyers representing the campaign withdrew as counsel.

The lawyers — Linda Kerns, John Scott, and Douglas Bryan Hughes — "move to withdraw their appearance as counsel for Plaintiffs," they said in a court filing Monday evening. Marc Scaringi "will act as counsel for Plaintiffs," the filing continued. "Plaintiffs consent to this withdrawal."

A federal judge said the hearing would not be delayed and wrote "counsel for the parties are expected to be prepared for argument and questioning."

In the wide-ranging federal lawsuit against Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, the Trump campaign alleged irregularities in the way ballots were counted throughout the state. It argued that 14,000 votes should be thrown out and that the election process in Pennsylvania was inherently unconstitutional.

It also alleged that ballots were handled differently in different counties, that huge piles of mail ballots were illegally counted, and that Pennsylvania voters were improperly allowed to "cure" issues with defective ballots. As Business Insider reported, the two counties the Trump campaign's lawsuit alleged voter fraud occurred in overwhelmingly voted for the president.

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The campaign submitted a revised version of the lawsuit days later that retracted many of its original allegations. Boockvar's office argued that the lawsuit was filed "on the basis of repeatedly rejected legal theories and no evidence."

Last week, the law firm representing the Trump campaign in the case, Porter Wright Morris & Arthur, moved to withdraw from it. Hearings in the case are set for Tuesday and Thursday.

Joe Biden, the president-elect, won the 2020 election by flipping Pennsylvania and the upper Midwestern battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin. The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Michigan and demanded a recount in Wisconsin.

As of Monday, Biden's lead in Pennsylvania was nearly 70,000 votes, and it's unlikely any of the Trump campaign's lawsuits will result in a reversal of Trump's loss in the state.

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