U.S. JUDGE DUMPS TRUMP PENNSYLVANIA SUIT, SAYS IT HAS NO MERIT

President Donald Trump faced a new setback in his desperate bid to overturn the US election as a federal judge dismissed his campaign’s lawsuit that sought to throw out millions of votes in Pennsylvania, Simon Lewis and Andy Sullivan reported for Reuters.

US District Court Judge Matthew Brann ruled that Trump’s campaign had failed to demonstrate there had been widespread voting fraud in the Nov. 3 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden. “This Court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations,” Brann wrote.

The lawsuit, spearheaded by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, sought to stop officials from certifying Biden’s victory in the state, arguing that some counties wrongly allowed voters to fix errors on their mail ballots. It is one of dozens filed by Trump and his Republican allies in the aftermath of the election. They are also seeking to invalidate or change the results through recounts and direct pressure on lawmakers in several states. Trump and his surrogates have not provided evidence for its claims of widespread and coordinated electoral fraud.

The General Services Administration (GSA), run by a Trump appointee, has not recognized Biden’s victory, preventing his team from gaining access to government office space and funding normally provided to an incoming administration ahead of Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.