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Trump worried Giuliani and legal team are ‘fools making him look bad’, report says

President has finally admitted a transition process must begin, but still vows to continue his legal battles

Mayank Aggarwal
Tuesday 24 November 2020 09:19 GMT
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Rudy Giuliani's hair dye drips down his face during press conference
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President Donald Trump is reportedly worried that he is being embarrassed by his campaign legal team, led by his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who have been unsuccessful in a string of cases challenging the results of the US election. 

Three weeks after the vote on 3 November, Mr Trump continues to complain about widespread irregularities without providing evidence, and his campaign has brought cases across several key swing states. 

So far they have met with no success, however, with a number of their cases already having been thrown out by state courts.

Now, according to NBC News, the president is worried that his campaign’s legal team is made up of “fools” whose failures and outlandish press appearances are “making him look bad”, a source said.

On Saturday, a federal judge in Pennsylvania, Matthew Brann, ruled out an order to stop officials from declaring Joe Biden as the winner in the state as he noted the Trump campaign presented “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations ... unsupported by evidence.”

On Sunday, Sidney Powell was effectively ousted by Mr Trump’s legal team after she suggested that, in Georgia, the Republican governor and secretary of state were part of a conspiracy to favour Joe Biden’s election.

Following that, Mr Giuliani and another lawyer for Mr Trump, Jenna Ellis, said in a statement that Sidney Powell “is not a member of the Trump Legal Team” and is also “not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity."  

Beyond the substance of their legal claims, Trump’s campaign lawyers have also invited mockery with a series of bizarre events with the media. They include a press conference held at a small local business called Four Seasons Total Landscaping, not the Four Seasons hotel, and a briefing where Mr Giuliani’s hair dye appeared to stream down his face.

Even some of the president’s fiercest allies and supporters have criticised the unsuccessful legal challenges in urging him to accept defeat. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie pointed to Ms Powell's unfounded claims on Sunday and called Mr Trump’s legal team a “national embarrassment.” 

NBC News reported that several such allies have conveyed their dismay at what appears to be an ill-thought-out legal strategy directly to the White House.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, finally relented and allowed a transition process to begin “in the best interests of our country” late on Monday, but still vowed to continue his legal battles over the election, saying in a tweet that he “will never concede”.

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