Despite projections by many news organizations Saturday that former Vice President Joe Biden has won the presidential election and defeated President Trump, the media don’t have the power to decide the outcome of American elections.
Legal challenges by the Trump reelection campaign, where I serve as a legal adviser, are still before the courts and we await judicial rulings on our challenges.
In other words, as the late baseball great Yogi Berra said in 1973, referring to the National League pennant race: “It ain’t over till it’s over.”
We all want to know who will be president for the next four years. But all Americans should want accurate results above all, no matter who they supported in the race.
So it’s important for everyone to realize that Trump campaign legal challenges must be resolved in the courts before we have an official and legally binding decision on who won the 2020 presidential election.
President Trump will continue fighting to ensure a fair and accurate election result. He is right to do this, because it’s vital that we keep our elections free and fair.
As Americans, we should all be able to recognize that our rule of law governs and our election process works accurately. For President Trump, the Trump 2020 campaign and the Republican National Committee, the rule of law, fundamental fairness and accuracy in election results are the goals.
None of the legal fights we are waging are novel arguments or anything more than an effort to ensure a fair and accurate election outcome. Our nation went through a legal challenge to the results in Florida during the 2000 presidential election between then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush and then-Vice President Al Gore, for example.
Twenty years ago, some news organizations prematurely said Gore won that very close election and would become the next president of the United States. Those news organizations later pulled back their projections.
Legal challenges by the Bush campaign went all the way to the Supreme Court. The nation’s highest court determined that George W. Bush won the election. Imagine how different history would have turned out if Bush has simply thrown in the towel as soon as he heard someone on TV say Gore won the race.
Of course, from a political viewpoint, we prefer that the outcome of the election this year is a second term for President Trump. That’s why we campaigned hard for the past four years up through Election Day.
The legal challenges aren’t campaigning. From a legal standpoint, politics and outcome preference do not matter. What matters is that everyone is required to play by the rules.
It’s not a legitimate victory if rules are broken or one side cheats. What’s happening right now is that the Biden camp is celebrating prematurely, without the results being finalized and legitimized.
President Trump and his legal team are fighting to make sure that election results are accurate, according to the rules. Every American should agree with that and be able to have confidence in the integrity of the election.
