Donald Trump's Campaign Withdraws Federal Lawsuit From Michigan

Donald Trump's campaign has withdrawn its federal voting fraud lawsuit from Michigan. According to Politico, Trump's legal team, led by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, had argued that local election officials declined to certify the Detroit-area's vote count, even though on Tuesday they unanimously voted to do so. In a statement on the dropped lawsuit, Giuliani said that the campaign had achieved "the relief we sought: to stop the election in Wayne County from being prematurely certified before residents can be assured that every legal vote has been counted and every illegal vote has not been counted."

The Wayne County vote certification had been held up by two GOP officials, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, voting against certifying the results. After increasing pressure from other state officials, the pair altered course and voted alongside their peers, having the vote certified. However, they later sent sworn affidavits to the Trump Campaign, expressing a desire to rescind their votes for certification. Late in the evening, I was enticed to certify based on the promise that a full and independent audit would take place," Hartmann said in the Wednesday affidavit.

"I would not have agreed to the certification but for the promise of an audit," he also said. Plamer added, "Until these questions are addressed, I remain opposed to the certification of the Wayne County results." Both Plamer and Hartman have been publicly heralded by Trump for what he considered a courageous vote against certifying the election results. Notably, both officials voted to certify the results just moments after being praised by the outgoing president. Biden won Michigan by over 148,000 votes, which Wayne County was crucial in, as he garnered 322,000 votes more than Trump in the area.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has since spoke out about Trump's refusal to accept the results of the election, as well as the Wayne County Board of Canvassers initial inability to certify the voting results. "It was just kind of mind-boggling," she told CNN's Alisyn Camerota. "This is a ministerial duty that these board members have taken an oath to uphold and this was incredibly distressing for that short period of time that it stood."

One of the Trump campaign's legal advisers, Jenna Ellis, argued that the initial voting certification refusal should open the door for the "Republican state legislator (sic) will select the electors." Whitmer, however, disagrees. "We've got to go into this with, of course, bracing ourselves for more shenanigans, but at the end of the day, the will of the people will be respected and Joe Biden won Michigan," she said.