Trump campaign mobilizes legal teams for election challenges

US President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is mobilizing a legal team to spearhead legal challenges in battleground states such as Michigan, according to an American news portal Breitbart quoting The News as saying.

The News’ reported, “Among the lawyers the president is activating include his private attorney Jay Sekulow, who will help campaign lawyers with matters before the Supreme Court as well as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, officials said.”

“Sidney Powell, the lawyer for former national security adviser Michael Flynn, may also be called upon, officials said.”

Justin Clark, Trump campaign deputy campaign manager, said the campaign will sue in Pennsylvania “to stop Democrat election officials from hiding the ballot counting and processing from our Republican poll observers,” adding that the campaign seeks “to temporarily halt counting until there is meaningful transparency and Republicans can ensure all counting is done above board and by the law.”

Earlier Wednesday, the Trump campaign announced that it will request a recount in Wisconsin.

“There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results. The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so,” said Stepien.

The report comes hours after the Trump campaign filed lawsuits to halt vote counts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, another key battleground state.

Democrat Joe Biden moved closer to victory in the US presidential race on Thursday as election officials tallied votes in the handful of states that will determine the outcome and protesters took to the streets.

Trump alleged fraud without providing evidence, filed lawsuits and called for recounts in a race yet to be decided more two days after polls closed.

With tensions rising, about 200 of Trump's supporters, some armed with rifles and handguns, gathered outside an election office in Phoenix, Arizona, following unsubstantiated rumors that votes were not being counted.

In Detroit, officials blocked about 30 people, mostly Republicans, from entering a vote-counting facility amid unfounded claims that the vote count in Michigan was fraudulent.

Anti-Trump protesters in other cities demanded that vote counting continue. Police arrested 11 people and seized weapons in Portland, Oregon after reports of rioting, while arrests were also made in New York, Denver and Minneapolis. Over 100 events are planned across the country between Wednesday and Saturday.

The presidential race was coming down to close contests in five states. Biden held narrow leads in Nevada and Arizona while Trump was watching his slim advantage fade in must-win states Pennsylvania and Georgia as mail-in and absentee votes were being counted. Trump clung to a narrow lead in North Carolina as well, another must-win for him.