Ex-Prosecutor Flags Potential Donald Trump Election Night Move That'd 'Be Illegal'

Lee Moran
Updated ·1-min read

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann broke down how Donald Trump may prematurely attempt to declare victory in the 2024 election.

Weissmann also warned of the legal pitfalls the former president may face in doing so.

Appearing on MSNBC this weekend, Weissmann recalled Trump’s demand during the 2020 election to “stop the count” when he was beating then-Democratic rival Joe Biden in the number of votes that had been counted at that particular time.

Trump, suggested Weissmann, may pull the same stunt of calling for a halt to counting votes if he appears to take a similar early lead (in the votes processed at that time) against Democratic 2024 rival Kamala Harris.

“Just to be clear, that is illegal to say that,” Weissmann pointed out. “That is a violation of the obstruction statute and the civil rights statutes, federally.”

“But you will hear exactly that thinking, ‘If you can stop the incoming vote,’ it won’t cause the Democrats to win. That is illegal,” Weissmann reiterated. “You have to count all votes.”

He added, “So, I fully expect that if Donald Trump thinks that he is ahead at the start and there are more mail-in ballots, absentee ballots that are coming in that are going to favor the Democrats, he is going to be doing exactly what he has already done, which is to say, ‘Stop the count and it’s actually voter fraud.’ When in fact, the voter fraud is saying, ‘Don’t count the votes.’”

Watch Weissmann’s analysis here:

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