Trump campaign officials accused Democrat presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden’s campaign Monday of plotting to “steal” the election by filing lawsuits to extend deadlines for counting mail-in ballots in key states.
“We fully anticipate that Democrats will be in court arguing to extend deadlines for accepting and counting votes mailed and received well past deadlines enacted by individual state laws,” said Trump deputy campaign manager Justin Clark. “The last gasp of the Biden campaign will be ugly and it will be ruthless.”
His comments came after President Trump warned Sunday night that his campaign’s lawyers would be “going in” to Pennsylvania on election night to stop any efforts to delay counting of mail ballots. State elections officials will have three days after Tuesday to finish counting ballots.
Mr. Clark said Mr. Biden “has assembled a massive team of lawyers who will try to loosen election integrity so they can steal this election.” He also noted that 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has advised Mr. Biden not to concede defeat “under any circumstances.”
“Democrats are panicking because Joe Biden has not run up a large enough lead in early votes in battleground states and they know that President Trump’s in-person votes on Election Day will make up the difference and propel him to victory,” Mr. Clark said. “Biden’s political operatives have already been distributing talking points and research to delegitimize Election Day results by coaching surrogates to refer to the president’s Election Day success as a ’Red Mirage.’ The operatives are advising surrogates and media to create a smoke screen by casting blame all around — imagining postal delays or falsely claiming that mail-in ballots that have simply not been returned should be considered legitimate votes that need to be counted.
“None of this will be true, but it will be held up as proof that President Trump’s victory is a so-called ’Red Mirage.’ No one should fall for it,” Mr. Clark said.
The Trump campaign also said Democrats have prepared television ads “to further cement the ’Red Mirage’ misinformation, seeking to convince people that all Joe Biden would need for victory is more time, extending well beyond Election Day.”
Mr. Clark said Democrats have realized too late that they lack a ground operation to get out the vote in swing states.
“We are on guard for Democrats to attempt to subvert state deadlines for receiving and counting ballots and we will fight to make sure they adhere to the law,” he said. “President Trump wants every eligible voter to be able to vote, vote once, and have it counted.”
The Biden campaign had no immediate comment.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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