Show an ad over header. AMP

Republicans gear up for day-of and post-Election Day litigation

30 October 2020
Dan Ackermann

Republican Party officials say they're already looking to Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Nevada as likely battlegrounds for post-election lawsuits if the results are close.

The big picture: As pre-election lawsuits draw to a close, and with President Trump running behind Joe Biden in national and many battleground state polls, Republicans are turning their attention to preparations for Election Day and beyond, and potential recounts.

  • They have 50,000 volunteers, attorneys and staff working election day operations, with an emphasis in presidential battleground states.
  • A multi-state wave of litigation brought by both Republicans and Democrats could unfold over the course of several days next week. Where and over what depends on the margins of victory in each state.

What they're saying: "There's a good chance you won't see any litigation" if an election outcome does not hinge on the ballots set aside, one GOP official familiar with the planning said on a call with reporters. "But if it's really close, to be frank, these ballots are going to become a point of contention."

Driving the news: Republican Party officials who briefed reporters on litigation plans Friday said they're watching late-arriving ballots that will be segregated in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, and have sued for ballot counting records from Clark County, Nevada, to test whether signature-matching standards there are lower than the rest of the state.

  • Amid lawsuits over extended mail-in ballot deadlines in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, election officials will now separate ballots that arrive after Election Day in case the courts decide they should not be counted.
  • The Supreme Court denied Republicans' request to expedite review of the mail-in ballot deadline in Pennsylvania this week. But Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas notably left open the possibility of the court taking up the case after the election.
  • The Minnesota lawsuit hasn't made its way to the Supreme Court yet.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

Section2

Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.