Michigan Republican legislative leaders under a national spotlight for agreeing to meet with President Donald Trump said late Friday they focused on COVID-19 assistance, not the president’s ongoing efforts to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election.
In a joint statement, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, and House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, did not say whether the Michigan election results came up in their conversation with Trump on Friday evening at the White House.
However, they did not indicate they would take action to intervene in any way that would change President-elect Joe Biden’s win in the state.
“We have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan and as legislative leaders, we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding Michigan’s electors, just as we have said throughout this election,” the leaders said in a press release.
“Michigan’s certification process should be a deliberate process free from threats and intimidation. Allegations of fraudulent behavior should be taken seriously, thoroughly investigated, and if proven, prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And the candidates who win the most votes win elections and Michigan’s electoral votes. These are simple truths that should provide confidence in our elections.”
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Many feared Trump would try to encourage the Republican legislative leaders to usurp the will of the majority of voters in Michigan and in some way deliver the state’s electoral votes to him.
Any attempt would likely be in violation of Michigan or federal law, or would require a new state law. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, would almost assuredly not sign a bill that would allow the Legislature to assign electoral votes and failure to achieve the two-thirds majority in the statehouse needed to overturn Whitmer’s veto is all but guaranteed. Both Chatfield and Shirkey had publicly stated they would not convince the Legislature to seat pro-Trump electors.
In stating they focused on requests for additional COVID-19 assistance, the leaders echoed a call made earlier this week from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. On Thursday, Whitmer said she sent a letter to Trump and federal legislative leaders asking for additional federal aide for unemployment benefits and small business relief.
She said she asked the Republican legislative leaders to sign on to the letter, but they declined. In their own letter, Republican leaders said “we feel it is important to represent our position distinctly from the governor’s.”
The letter Chatfield and Shirkey sent to the president and federal legislative leaders on Friday is largely the same as the one Whitmer and Michigan Democratic legislative leaders sent to the same federal lawmakers the day before.
In their Friday statement, Shirkey and Chatfield said, “Months ago, Michigan received funds through the federal CARES Act, and we used that funding to quickly support front line workers, improve testing, ensure adequate PPE, provide additional support to out-of-work Michiganders, and deliver assistance to local businesses that are struggling through no fault of their own. We once again face a time in our state when additional support would go a long way to help those same residents who need our help.” .
The legislative leaders faced immense national scrutiny for their decision to meet with the president, as Trump and his campaign continue to spread inaccurate and misleading information in an effort to try and undermine election results.
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Earlier in the day, Chatfield defended the decision to attend the White House meeting.
“No matter the party, when you have an opportunity to meet with the President of the United States, of course you take it. I won’t apologize for that. In fact, I’m honored to speak with POTUS and proud to meet with him. And I look forward to our conversation,” Shirkey tweeted, with an American flag emoji, a few minutes before 1 p.m.
During a news briefing earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said it would “not be an advocacy meeting,” according to USA TODAY.
“There will be no one from the campaign there, he routinely meets with lawmakers from all across the country,” McEnany said.
However, reports from Axios and others indicated there would be campaign attorneys at the meeting.
Until the tweet, Chatfield and Shirkey had remained largely tight-lipped about their meeting with the president. Shirkey was mobbed by activists and reporters at airports in Detroit and Washington, D.C. In one viral clip, Shirkey appeared to sign verses from the popular worship song “I believe in a hill called Mount Calvary” as people shout questions at him.
Other video appeared to show Michigan House Speaker-elect Jason Wentworth, R-Clare, and state Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, joined Shirkey on his trip. It was unclear whether they also participated in the White House meeting.
Biden’s campaign and scores of other Democratic leaders blasted the president for calling the meeting. On Friday, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat who also served as the state attorney general, implied there could be some sort of inappropriate ask of Chatfield and Shirkey during the meeting.
“If it were me, I would turn around so fast or if they’re not going to turn around, they should wear a wire,” Granholm said during a news conference.
Barb McQuade, a former federal prosecutor in Detroit under President Barack Obama and current law professor at the University of Michigan, was less circumspect. She said the president summoning state lawmakers to the White House is a “red flag that there may be criminal activity afloat.”
“One of the things that I see as a prosecutor is a candidate for elected office calling on state and local officials to discuss an election and try to bully them into overturning the will of the people. That is potentially criminal under federal statutes and state statutes and so I think in that way, to be soliciting people to commit crimes is incredibly shocking for someone who is the president of the United States,” McQuade said during a news conference.
“The focus of the prosecutor would typically be on the person who’s instigating the crime. Although anyone who participates certainly has some potential liability. The wrongdoer here would be the president himself for any number of offenses.”
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Biden campaign attorney Bob Bauer called the meeting an obvious attempt to intimidate elected officials.
“On the one hand, this is really very harmful to the democratic process and it actually troubles the people a great deal. On the other hand, it is doomed to failure,” Bauer said.
“There is nothing that I can imagine that is more beneath the president of the United States than to be haranguing officials…to try to at least give people the impression that there is a possibility that he will still win the election.”
The Michigan Board of State Canvassers is set to meet Monday, when it will consider certifying state election results.
Contact Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com or 313-938-4591. Follow him on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.
Source Article from https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/20/trump-meeting-gop-leaders-covid-19-election-results/6357607002/
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