CNN anchor Jake Tapper excoriated President Trump and some Republicans for their “clownish coup attempt” at delegitimizing the election process as the sitting president’s flailing legal battles contesting the legitimacy of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory have proven fruitless.
On Wednesday, the Trump campaign, as well 17 red states, formally indicated their support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit, which seeks to reverse Trump’s defeat in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan. Paxton alleges that because those states adjusted their election practices for the pandemic without explicit approval from their legislatures, the legislatures — all Republican — should be allowed to appoint their own electors to the Electoral College.
In addition to Trump announcing his support for Paxton’s lawsuit, Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican, filed an amicus brief in support of the Texas lawsuit challenging election results in battleground states.
On Wednesday afternoon, Tapper torched Trump and those in his “ride-or-die brigade in Congress” for urging their Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill to also join the amicus brief.
“We have to point out, we have discussed this lawsuit on the show before, and it’s not taken seriously by any credible legal experts on the left or the right,” Tapper said.
Tapper went on to dismiss Texas’ lawsuit as “full of nonsense and conspiracy theories” as he slammed the Republican Party, which he argued is at a point where “if you cross the President, you actually fear for your life.”
Tapper later referenced Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward (R) saying she’d get her “house bombed” if she defied Trump.
Piggybacking off of CNN political reporter Gloria Borger’s remarks decrying Trump’s concerted attempts at pressuring state lawmakers and officials to intervene on his behalf in order to overturn election results, which she described as “election tampering,” Tapper didn’t mince words as he aired his grievances over Republicans’ push for Trump’s virtually nonexistent chances of a second term.
“It is a clownish, and it will be a failed attempt, at a coup, a non-violent coup,” Tapper said. “But it is absolutely disgraceful. There’s really no other word for it other than that.”
Watch Tapper’s remarks below:
Jake Tapper: "It is a clownish, and it will be a failed attempt, at a coup, a non-violent coup. But it is absolutely disgraceful. There’s really no other word for it other than that." pic.twitter.com/tQKoinDbJZ
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) December 9, 2020
