Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign is ramping up its legal operations to guard the integrity of the November election amid President Trump’s baseless claims that the expansion of vote-by-mail leading to voter fraud.
In what the Biden campaign bills as the largest election protection program in presidential campaign history, its new legal operation will be led by Dana Remus — who has served as Biden’s general counsel in the 2020 campaign — and Bob Bauer, who served as White House counsel during the Obama administration, general counsel on both of Obama’s presidential campaigns and joined the Biden campaign full-time over the summer as a senior adviser.
According to the New York Times, two former solicitors general, Donald B. Verrilli Jr. and Walter Dellinger, will head up the Biden campaign’s “special litigation” unit. Hundreds of lawyers are in the unit — which includes a team at the Democratic law firm Perkins Coie, led by Marc Elias — that will home in on the state-by-state fights over vote casting and counting rules.
Former Obama administration attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. plays a role in Biden’s new legal operations, as well, serving as a liaison between the campaign and the many independent groups involved in the legal challenges mounting over the presidential election.
“We can and will hold a free and fair election this fall and be able to trust the results,” Remus told the Times in an interview.
Bauer told the Times that the Biden campaign’s new legal operation would be “far more sophisticated and resourced” than those during past campaigns.
Both Remus and Bauer described a multi-pronged program to the Times, which combines elements that were fixtures in past presidential campaigns — such as combating voter suppression and ensuring people understood how to vote— and some that address concerns that are more relevant to 2020, such as handling an election during the COVID-19 pandemic and guarding against foreign interference.
“There are some unique challenges this year,” Bauer told the Times.
Biden officials also said that the campaign aims to combat Trump’s baseless voter fraud claims without amplifying them further.
“A lot of what Trump and his allies would have us do is amplify their disaster scenarios,” Bauer told the Times. “We’re not going to get caught up in alarmist rhetoric they are using to scare voters.”
According to the Times, Bauer also argued that “the constant return to the issue of fraud is itself a voter suppression tool.”
And thus the takeaway is that his lawyers can beat up Trump’s lawyers.
That shouldn’t be hard, considering the caliber of Trump’s lawyers. But boy is this going to get uuuugly!
Polls already show that Trump’s doom scenarios will scare away older voters most. You know, historically the Republican party’s most dependable voter demographic. They NEED older voters, as they never lose amongst that age group (until possible this year).
Some of his advisors are warning him to stop scaring people away form voting. But he ain’t listening.
I can’t wait for the disingenuous right-wing attacks and talking points that that accuse Biden of doing everything Trump is actually doing and paint a conspiracy of ‘Bidens’ team to steal the election’ that will eventually make it’s way from 4chan into the MSM.
It will damned well need to be and I’m glad to hear it but would feel even better at news they have developed an equally well-resourced geek squad to deal with hacking and other forms of cyber-legerdemain.
From the ‘brooks brothers riot’ to 2016 email bullshit, the forces of democracy have been too often outplayed by the authoritarians.
ETA: we’ve reached the point where something like a sweep has become mandatory – presidency, senate, hold the house, more states blue – if the tide of fascism is to be turned. JMO