Ahead of Michigan’s official certification of the 2020 presidential election results, and amid nationwide outrage over the allegedly racist refusal of two Republicans to vote to validate the largest county’s results, two top Republican state lawmakers are heading to the White House.
The news comes as the Trump campaign on Thursday withdrew its lawsuit challenging the election results. On Wednesday President Trump falsely stated he won Michigan and lied about voting irregularities.
“Lawmakers are flying into DC to meet with President Trump tomorrow, at his request,” Washington Post national political reporter Amy Gardner reports.
The news comes just after the revelation that President Trump personally “reached out” to the two GOP members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers who had refused to vote to certify the election results. Wayne County includes Detroit, which is majority-Black.
President-elect Joe Biden won the state by a big margin: 51%-48%, or 154,000 votes.
Why would the state’s top two lawmakers be heading to meet with the President just days before the vote is slated to be certified?
“The visits by Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, and House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, will come as a legal fight plays out in the battleground state with President Donald Trump attempting to challenge the results of the Nov. 3 election,” The Detroit News reports.
UPDATE:
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes delivers a strong response, says he’s “inclined” to call Trump’s actions “sedition.”