President Donald Trump sued the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Wednesday, requesting that a U.S. district court rule in favor of the state legislature appointing new Electoral College delegates to declare him the winner.
The lawsuit is the second Trump has filed in the state this week, with his campaign also seeking to invalidate more than 220,000 votes they say were improperly counted. Trump’s latest suit alleges a “plan by the mayors of Wisconsin’s five largest cities” to implement a new form of absentee voting that the president argues is unconstitutional.
“The United States Constitution prevents the rules in a Presidential Election from being changed at the last minute by un-elected bureaucrats and local politicians who may have a more narrow interest in the outcome of the election,” said Attorney Bill Block, Trump’s lead counsel in the suit. (RELATED: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Throws Out Rep. Mike Kelly’s Pro-Trump Election Lawsuit)
The U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Wisconsin will hear the case. The Electoral College will vote to officially certify President-Elect Joe Biden as the winner on Dec. 14.
GETTYSBURG, PA – NOVEMBER 25: President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani speaks during a Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee public hearing Wednesday at the Wyndham Gettysburg Hotel to discuss 2020 election issues and irregularities on November 25, 2020 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Giuliani is continuing his push to overturn election results in the courts. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Trump’s legal efforts got off to a rocky start in Wisconsin after reports revealed that his original lead lawyer in the state, former Judge Jim Troupis, argued in his original election lawsuit that his own vote as illegal. The suit called for the state to invalidate all “in-person absentee” votes, a method of early voting in the state that both Troupis and his wife used in the 2020 election.
Troupis’ vote appears to still be among those the campaign is seeking to throw out.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany has said Trump won’t formally concede until all of his legal challenges have been exhausted, and those challenges are dwindling. His challenges in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, and Georgia have been thrown out or withdrawn. Trump has confirmed he will leave the White House if the Electoral College certifies Biden’s win.
Trump has also ordered the General Services Administration (GSA) to begin the transition process and authorized the intelligence community to share classified briefings with Biden’s transition team.
