NOVEMBER 20, 2020
FILE- In this Jan. 9, 2019 file photo, Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, speaks to the media after swearing in and opening ceremonies for the State of Michigan 100th Legislature in Lansing, Mich. Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republican legislative leaders announced Monday, Sept. 9 that they will work to enact a state budget without including a long-term funding plan to fix Michigan’s deteriorating roads. “The people of Michigan deserve leadership in Lansing that will work to continue providing them with services they depend on every day,” said a joint statement issued by Chatfield, Whitmer and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey. The agreement should forestall the possibility of an Oct. 1 partial government shutdown. (Rod Sanford/Detroit News via AP, File)
Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield, Speaker-elect Jason Wentworth and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey will attend, a source familiar with the meeting said.
The meetings come as the President, Giuliani and other allies continue to peddle false claims of nationwide voter fraud.
There are also discussions currently underway with Trump about inviting Republican state legislators from Pennsylvania to the White House, two sources told CNN.
It’s not clear if those invitations have been extended yet, but Trump has expressed interest in doing so as he tries to insert himself into the vote certification process. The deadline for counties in Pennsylvania to certify their totals is Monday.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany would not say what Trump will discuss with the Michigan lawmakers.
“So he will be meeting later on. This is not an advocacy meeting. There will be no one from the campaign there. He routinely meets with lawmakers from all across the country,” McEnany said.
Despite McEnany’s claim that campaign officials would not attend, Giuliani, who has been leading the campaign’s legal effort, told Fox 5 New York he would be at Friday’s meeting.
Asked what will happen, Giuliani said, “Well that really depends on them and the President. I’m just there to answer any questions they have because I probably know the case better than anybody else.”
Certification is usually a formality, but Trump is trying to block or delay the process in key states as part of a long-shot effort to overturn his election defeat through the Electoral College. Giuliani and other allies have suggested that GOP state legislatures in battleground states Biden won should try to use a delay in certification to appoint their own slate of electors and ignore the states’ popular votes for Biden.
Trump extended the invitation on Thursday morning to the Michigan lawmakers by calling Mike Shirkey, the person familiar previously told CNN.
Shirkey has not responded to emails from CNN either, and his phone mailbox was also full.
Earlier this week, Trump called two Republican canvass board members from Wayne County to offer his support, after they went back and forth on voting to certify the election results from the state’s largest county, which includes Detroit. The board members filed affidavits Wednesday seeking to “rescind” their votes to certify the election result.
Both Shirkey and Chatfield have said that they will honor their state’s popular vote and not stray from the process of how electors in Michigan are selected. Biden currently has a 154,187 vote lead over Trump in the Great Lakes State.
On September 24, Shirkey led the Senate to pass a resolution assuring that electors will vote for the candidate with the most votes as certified by election officials.
“The Michigan Senate commits to the selection of electors to the Electoral College that will be faithful to voting for the candidate with the most votes for President in Michigan as certified by Michigan election officials,” the resolution read.
Meanwhile, a growing number of veteran GOP lawmakers are objecting to Trump’s tactics. Rep. Fred Upton, a senior Michigan Republican who was targeted by Democrats but won his reelection bid by 16 points, said, “Yeah. I think it’s all said and done.”
“No one has seen any real identification of any real fraud,” Upton said,
Courtesy/Source: CNN
