US President Trump's Pennsylvania lawsuit dismissed, Judge says 'unsupported by evidence'

US President Donald Trump's Pennsylvania Lawsuit seeking to invalidate all the mail-in votes that the state received during the US elections has been dismissed by the US District Court Judge Matthew Brann. Terming the legal argument presented by Trump's legal team as 'strained', Judge Brann said that the argument lacks 'merit' while adding that the accusations are 'speculative' and 'unsupported by evidence'. Questioning the credibility of the allegations and reprimanding the lawyers of the incumbent President for failing to provide factual proof, the federal judge in Pennsylvania rejected the request for an injunction despite being a longtime Republican. 

"Plaintiffs ask this court to disenfranchise almost seven million voters. This court has been unable to find any case in which a plaintiff has sought such a drastic remedy in the contest of an election, in terms of the sheer volume of votes asked to be invalidated. In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state. Our people, laws, and institutions demand more," said Judge Brann.

"One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption, such that this court would have no option but to regrettably grant the proposed injunctive relief despite the impact it would have on such a large group of citizens. That has not happened. Instead, this court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence," he added.

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"We fully disagree with this opinion"

President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani and senior legal advisor to the Trump Campaign for 2020 US Elections, Jenna Ellis, issued a joint statement following the decision of the federal court in Pennsylvania. They informed of their plans to approach the US Supreme Court while adding that they do thank Judge Brann for making the 'anticipated decision quickly'. They further added that the Democrats 'eliminated' their chance to present witnesses and evidence of ignorance of Pennsylvania law by the election officials. 

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"Although we fully disagree with this opinion, we're thankful to the Obama-appointed judge for making this anticipated decision quickly, rather than simply trying to run out the clock. We will be seeking an expedited appeal to the Third Circuit. There is so much evidence that in Pennsylvania, Democrats eliminated our opportunity to present 50 witnesses and other evidence that election officials blatantly ignored Pennsylvania's law denying independent review. This resulted in 682,777 ballots being cast illegally, wittingly or unwittingly. We hope that the Third Circuit will be as gracious as Judge Brann in deciding our appeal one way or the other as expeditiously as possible," they said in the statement. 

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US Elections 2020

The 2020 US Presidential elections were held on November 3 after which the counting of the votes commenced. After 4 days of vote counting, Democratic nominee Joe Biden was elected the 46th US President with 284 electoral college votes. Pennsylvania had a total of 20 electoral college votes and Biden leads in the state by over 81,000 votes. This victory took him past the 270 electoral college votes that he needed to win. Despite the close call - Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania turned out to be the four swing states that helped Biden secure the win. He also won 50.6% popular votes amassing 7,48,47,834 ballots.

The results did not bode well with President Trump who alleged that the elections were rigged. He went on to claim that he won the elections as the mail-in ballots defrauded Americans. Donald Trump refused to concede defeat to Joe Biden and his campaign went on to file lawsuits in battleground states. International media reports also suggest that Trump may not be inviting Biden to the White House, as per the age-old tradition, thereby making the transition process even more difficult. 

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(With inputs from ANI & PTI)