President Trump has filed a motion to intervene in a Texas lawsuit claiming a number of battleground states ignored or made illegal changes to elections laws in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election.
"Donald J. Trump, in his personal capacity as candidate for re-election as President of the United States, today moved to intervene in the Texas v. Pennsylvania et. al. action at the United States Supreme Court," the Trump campaign announced in a statement. "The President intervened because his rights as a candidate are affected by the Defendant States' failure to follow and enforce state elections laws during the 2020 election."
Katie reported earlier that President Trump was planning to intervene in the lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The Texas suit argues that four states -- Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Pennsylvania -- "exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election," reads a press release announcing the lawsuit.
The Texas attorney general claims that changes made to election laws are inconsistent with relevant state laws and violate the U.S. Constitution since the changes were made by non-legislative entities.
President Trump called the Texas suit "the big one" in a tweet announcing his intent to intervene in the case.
We will be INTERVENING in the Texas (plus many other states) case. This is the big one. Our Country needs a victory!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2020
Attorney John C. Eastman is representing the president in his motion to intervene.
"I'm honored that the President asked me to represent him in this matter. I think his intervention in this case strengthens an already very strong original action taken by the state of Texas," Eastman said in a statement.
Florida and Arizona filed an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to hear the Texas motion.