Trump told the Post’s Michael Goodwin that he believes “this election was stolen,” pointed to enthusiasm shown for his candidacy at large-scale rallies, railed against the voting software system used to tally votes, and insisted that “it’s not possible” that he lost.
Asked whether he would accept the results if his raft of legal challenges fail, he said, “We'll see how it turns out.”
“It’s hard to come to terms when they won’t let your poll watchers in to observe” vote tabulation, Trump said, adding, “Again, I can’t tell you what’s going to happen.”
Trump has several outstanding legal challenges in key battleground states, and there is speculation that if some of these are successful in blocking certification of election results, neither candidate would receive the needed 270 Electoral College votes and a “contingent election” could ensue, in which state delegates in the House would choose the president.
“What he’s trying to do is to deny Joe Biden 270 votes, by challenging in Pennsylvania, Georgia, in Nevada, in Michigan, in Arizona,” Dershowitz said, adding that not allowing Biden to reach 270 out of 538 votes would eventually force House state delegations to vote, where Republicans have an advantage over Democrats. Currently, the GOP has a 26-23-1 state delegation majority in the House of Representatives.
“If he can keep the Biden count below 270, then the matter goes to the House of Representatives, where, of course, there is a Republican majority among the delegations of states, and you vote by state if it goes to the House,” Dershowitz said. “He’s trying to follow the playbook of three elections of the 19th century.”
Trump’s campaign or legal team haven’t publicly stated whether that strategy is in play.
Another possibility being floated is a scenario in which the governor and the legislature in a closely contested state submit two different election results, leading to a situation in which there are two sets of “dueling electors” and it would be up to Congress to determine which to accept.
Meanwhile, Trump told Goodwin repeatedly that he believes the voting software, from Dominion Voting Systems, was in some way compromised, echoing earlier remarks in this regard.
“Report: Dominion deleted 2.7 million Trump votes nationwide. Data analysis finds 221,000 Pennsylvania votes switched from President Trump to Biden. 941,000 Trump votes deleted. States using Dominion Voting Systems switched 435,000 votes from Trump to Biden,” Trump wrote in a separate post on Twitter.
While Powell declined to provide specifics of the evidence reportedly in her possession, she told Fox Business that she has enough proof of election fraud to launch a widespread criminal investigation and that, “We’re getting ready to overturn election results in multiple states.”
Dominion Voting Systems has denied several times to media outlets that its software and devices are not secure.
A national coalition that includes the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Association of State Election Directors said there is a lack of evidence supporting the claim that voting software deleted or switched votes in the election.
“If there is anything to this,” Hovland said, referring to claims of fraud, “election officials will want to get to the bottom of it more than anyone. They care about the integrity of the process and want to make sure that it was fair and the will of the voters is reflected.”
