Campaign Lawyer: Legislatures in Swing States Will Switch Electors to Trump

President Donald Trump campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis speaks to media while flanked by Trump lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (L) and attorney Sidney Powell, at a press conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington on Nov. 19, 2020. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

President Donald Trump’s campaign is confident that at least one state legislature will take back the power to select electors and change to supporting Trump, campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis said Monday.

While the campaign is continuing to press forward with lawsuits in swing states, Ellis said she and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani have been focused on going to state legislatures and alerting them that they have the constitutionally delegated authority to make sure that they select their delegates.

“So when all of these rules and laws in their states have been ignored, it’s actually their constitutional obligation, responsibility, and exclusive power to make sure that they take back their delegates and they don’t allow these false certifications to simply move forward,” Ellis said during a virtual appearance on Fox Business.

The campaign is confident that the state legislature in Georgia will do so, and hope the legislatures in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Arizona will follow.

“We’re very confident that at least in Georgia and hopefully also in Arizona, in Pennsylvania, and also in Michigan, that these state legislatures will really take election integrity very seriously, they will reclaim their delegates before the 14th, and that they will then do their own election integrity independent investigation, and then they will certify to the Electoral College the delegates that actually reflects the will of the people, not these false, corrupt results,” she said.

State lawmakers in Georgia were pushing on Monday to get enough votes on a petition to call a special session with an eye towards taking back the power to select electors.

“What we’re seeking to do is have a special session to review this and then determine whether or not the election was valid,” Republican state Sen. William Ligon told The Epoch Times. “And if it was not valid, then the legislature… will have to vote for who the electors will be.”

Republicans have a 103–75 majority in the Georgia House of Representatives and a 35–21 majority in the Georgia Senate.

In Arizona, a group of 28 members and members-elect of the state legislature called to decertify the election, citing irregularities and fraud allegations.

Rep. Walter Blackman, a Republican, told a crowd while announcing the effort that the election was stolen.

“The Democrats are trying to take our vote away again. They’re not just trying to take away black American votes, they’re trying to take away American votes,” he said.

Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican, doesn’t agree with the effort to take back control of choosing electors. The GOP controls the Arizona House 31–29 and holds a 17–13 majority in the state Senate.

Lawyers for President Donald Trump and members of the Arizona Legislature hold a public hearing on election integrity in Phoenix, Ariz., on Nov. 30, 2020. Mei Lee/The Epoch Times

The Arizona Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a Republican lawsuit challenging the certification of election results.

A group of 11 Pennsylvania lawmakers recently filed a lawsuit seeking to have a judge order Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, to withdraw certification of election results. A larger group called on Congress to dispute the state’s 20 electors when the Joint Session of Congress meets on Jan. 6.

Republicans have a 113–90 majority in the Pennsylvania House and a 28–21 majority in the state Senate.

Trump’s campaign asked Michigan’s top court on Monday to rule the state’s election process violated the Michigan Constitution and Giuliani urged lawmakers during a state House committee hearing this month to step in because of alleged fraud.

The GOP controls both the House and the Senate in Michigan.

Some believe time to contest the election results runs out on Dec. 8, known as the so-called safe harbor deadline.

“States have until Dec. 8th, known as the ‘Safe Harbor’ deadline, to resolve any electoral contests,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said last month.

But the deadline, which is understood to free a state from further contest-of-election challenges if it settles legal disputes and certifies its results at least six days before the Dec. 14 Electoral College meetings, is not set in stone, nor are any other deadlines, an election integrity watchdog group argued last week.

The only constitutionally set date in the election process is Jan. 20, when the next president of the United States will be sworn in, according to the Amistad Project of the nonpartisan Thomas More Society.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.