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New: Trump's campaign is dropping its effort to stop Michigan from certifying results — there's a court notice, affidavits, and Giuliani statement, and they all *contradict each other* (thread coming.) Regardless of what they say, though, this case is over
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7331219/11-19-20-Trump-v-Benson-Voluntary-Dismissal.pdf
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7331219/11-19-20-Trump-v-Benson-Voluntary-Dismissal.pdf
First, the facts: The Wayne County Board of Canvassers voted to certify the election results. That happened after the board initially deadlocked. Here's the Detroit Free Press: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/11/17/wayne-county-election-certification/6309668002/
The campaign's notice says the board of canvassers "declined to certify the results" — that is false. There are affidavits from the two GOP members that confirm they voted to certify — they're now trying to walk it back, but that's different from saying they declined to certify
In the affidavits, the two GOP members say they felt pressured/duped into agreeing to certify based on promises there would be an audit. One declares that they rescind (unclear what actual legal meaning that has, if any) and one says, I still don't think we should have certified
Then there's Rudy Giuliani, who says they dropped the suit because they got what what they wanted, "to stop the election in Wayne County from being prematurely certified" — but the results were certified, and it's not clear if the board members can do anything now to undo that
Giuliani's statement is also vague — not totally clear if "prematurely certified" means he's acknowledging it was, in fact, certified (he doesn't use the "declined to certify" language as the court notice), or if he's saying the GOP members backtracking means no certification yet
And regardless of all of the rhetoric — the one thing we can say for sure is that the Trump campaign is dropping the court case, before it's clear if anything can be done to undo the Wayne County certification. If not, they'd have to start all over again in court
New: Detroit is asking a judge to strike affidavits filed by the Trump campaign from GOP members of the Wayne County canvassing board + the campaign's false statement that the county didn't certify election results https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7331288/11-19-20-Detroit-Motion-to-Strike.pdf
Detroit's lawyers write: "Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A) allows Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. and the other Plaintiffs to voluntarily dismiss their claims, but it does not allow them to use a Notice of Dismissal to spread disinformation."
