Attorneys representing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on behalf of Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar are very irritated the Trump campaign is asking legal questions about how the 2020 presidential election was conducted.
According to Trump Campaign Communications Director Tim Murtaugh, campaign attorneys have been on the receiving end of unprofessional behavior, which has been reported to the court.
One of our lawyers in PA has received abusive e-mails, calls & physical & economic threats.
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) November 16, 2020
One voicemail was from a lawyer at the firm representing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, running far afoul of standards of professional conduct.
It has been turned over to the court. pic.twitter.com/cwSILjbjt0
"Since this case was filed, undersigned counsel has been subjected to continuous harassment in the form of abusive e-mails, phone calls, physical and economic threats , and even accusations of treason -- all for representing the President of the United States' campaign in this litigation. It is one thing for members of the public to break the laws of decorum, or even laws of Pennsylvania or the United States, by engaging in such harassment. This Court's role is not to protect counsel from such attacks. But it is another thing for lawyers in the Washington D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis, Secretary Boockvar's outside counsel, to do so. And yet that is what happened," a motion to the court states. "It is quintessentially the Court's role to police and appropriately sanction law firms appearing in front of it for such conduct. It is plaintiff's obligation to defend its counsel, and it does so now by respectfully moving for an order for Kirkland & Ellis to show cause justifying the conduct of its lawyers."
As a reminder, Secretary Boockvar has a history of anti-Trump sentiment.
Using the title 'President' before the word 'Trump' really demeans the office of the presidency...
— Kathy Boockvar (@KathyBoockvar) March 7, 2017
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is also pushing back on media reports about their lawsuit in Pennsylvania.
"On Sunday night, the Washington Post ran a complete mischaracterization of the Trump campaign’s litigation in Pennsylvania, erroneously claiming the campaign had dropped the claim of nearly 700,000 ballots processed illegally and in secret. The campaign did no such thing. In fact, because of a Friday ruling by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in an unrelated case, the campaign strategically decided to restructure its lawsuit to rely on claims of violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The claim that 682,479 ballots were improperly processed and counted is still very much part of the suit," the campaign released in a statement Monday morning. "Paragraph 4 of the amended filing reads: 'Allegheny and Philadelphia Counties alone received and processed 682,479 mail-in and absentee ballots without review by the political parties and candidates. These are unprecedented numbers in Pennsylvania’s elections history. Rather than engaging in an open and transparent process to give credibility to Pennsylvania’s brand-new voting system, the processes were hidden during the receipt, review, opening, and tabulation of those 682,479 votes.'”
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