Trump spoke to at least one Wayne County GOP election official, WaPo reports. Certification is still set to move forward and affirm Biden’s win in Michigan.
“I did receive a call from President Trump, late Tuesday evening, after the meeting,” Palmer told the Post. “He was checking in to make sure I was safe after hearing the threats and doxing that had occurred.”
The two GOP board members on the four-person board sent sworn affidavits to the county’s attorney disavowing their previous votes to certify. But given that the deadline for county certification has already passed, it is unclear what legal remedy or legitimate argument these two Republican officials can make to formally rescind their votes and undo the certification.
Asked if she discussed the presidential vote count with Trump, Palmer told the Post: “It’s hard for me to describe. There was a lot of adrenalin and stress going on. There were general comments about different states but we really didn’t discuss the details of the certification. … It was not pressure. It was genuine concern for my safety.”
Palmer and Republican board member William Hartmann had initially voted against certification during their Tuesday night meeting, leaving the board in a 2-2 deadlock. After hours of public pressure and complaints that they were brazenly disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of voters from the majority-Black city of Detroit, the Republicans changed their votes and the certification passed unanimously.
CNN has reached out to Palmer and Hartmann about the calls.
Also Thursday, the Trump campaign dropped its federal lawsuit in Michigan that alleged voting irregularities and had asked the court to stop certification of the votes in Wayne County. Its filing included the affidavits from the two Republican board members.
Certification is usually a formality, but President Donald Trump is trying to block or delay the process in key states as part of a long-shot effort to overturn his election defeat through the Electoral College.
Democratic Vice Chair Jonathan Kinloch said on Thursday that the county certification date of November 17 is a definitive deadline and that board members’ votes cannot be changed after the fact. The GOP officials sent their affidavits to the county, but the action stops there. They have not filed any lawsuits to try to force the county to call a new meeting.
“There is no further action that can be taken in regards to the certification,” Kinloch told CNN.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
