President Donald Trump’s legal team has withdrawn its election contests against Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as well as several other challenges against top state officials, according to a press release from Raffensperger’s office.
“On the eve of getting the day in court they supposedly were begging for, President Trump and [Georgia Republican Party] Chairman David Shafer’s legal team folded Thursday,” the release states. “They voluntarily dismissed their election contests against Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger rather than submit their evidence to a court and to cross-examination,” the release states.
The release goes on to say that, despite dropping their legal challenge, the President’s legal team continues to falsely characterize the dismissal of their lawsuits as “due to an out of court settlement agreement.” However, correspondence sent to Trump’s legal team prior to the dismissals makes perfectly clear that there is no settlement agreement, according to the Secretary’s office.
The case was scheduled to go before Cobb County Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs on Friday, January 8.
“Rather than presenting their evidence and witnesses to a court and to cross-examination under oath, the Trump campaign wisely decided the smartest course was to dismiss their frivolous cases,” Raffensperger said.
The withdrawals came after Secretary Raffensperger sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday refuting false claims about election fraud in Georgia made by the President and his allies. Congress accepted Georgia’s slate of electors without objection, as no Senator joined in Congressman Jody Hice’s objection to Georgia’s electors. Senator Kelly Loeffler reversed her decision to challenge the election results after an angry-mob of pro-Trump protesters overran the United States Capitol.
“I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors,” Loeffler, who lost a runoff race in Georgia on Tuesday, said on the Senate floor.
“Spreading disinformation about elections is dangerous and wrong,” said Raffensperger. “It was wrong when Stacey Abrams and her allies made false claims about Georgia’s election processes following the 2018 election and run-up to the 2020 election, and it’s wrong when the President and his allies are doing it now.”
The President’s lawyers also voluntarily dismissed three other lawsuits against Raffensperger including:
- Trump v. Kemp in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia,
- Still v. Raffensperger et al in the Superior Court of Fulton County and
- Boland v. Raffensperger et al in the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Those dismissals were not pursuant to a settlement agreement either, the press release states.
