President Trump’s aides are assembling a recount hit squad, headed by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Senior Campaign Adviser Justin Clark, to challenge counts in battleground states, according to senior insiders.
Details emerged as the campaign launched a string of legal challenges in battleground states to contest an outcome that appeared to be slipping away from Trump.
The campaign has lodged a lawsuit to temporarily halt the count of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania, claiming a lack of “transparency.” It is demanding a recount in Wisconsin. And it is taking court action in Michigan to get access to locations where ballots are being counted in one of the undecided states that could yet determine the outcome of the election.
Michael Best and Friedrich, Clark’s law firm and home to former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, is providing the legal firepower, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“Those are the key players in taking this fight to the next level,” said a senior campaign adviser, confirming details first reported by Business Insider.
The Trump campaign got off to a good start on Tuesday night, holding Florida and its 29 electoral college votes. However, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is projected to win Arizona and Wisconsin and is building up leads in other critical states.
The result was a frantic slew of lawsuits lodged on Wednesday and an air that the result was slipping away from Trump.
However, in a conference call with reporters, campaign manager Bill Stepien insisted that Pennsylvania was heading decisively for the Trump column.
“We are declaring a victory in Pennsylvania,” he said. “This is not based on gut or feel. This is based on math.”
At the same time, a senior campaign adviser said the legal action was essential to ensure that the count in places like Philadelphia was transparent and fair.
“We’re confident that we’ve won this, and we are ready to take that message to the public,” said the adviser. “You are going to see that, and we’re going to hold these folks accountable because we know Philadelphia has a history of fraud.”
“We are going to fight this and any attempts of fraud that are in play.”
