Trump Paid $3 Million for Wisconsin Recount That Expanded Biden’s Lead by 87 Votes

Wisconsin’s partial recount confirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s win and expanded his margin of victory by 87 votes, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

President Donald Trump’s campaign paid $3 million for a recount in Democratic-heavy Milwaukee and Dane Counties to avoid paying the full $8 million that it would have cost to recount votes in the entire state.

The recount added 132 votes to Biden’s total in Milwaukee County and 45 votes to Trump’s total in Dane County, increasing the president-elect’s margin to 20,695 votes out of about 3 million ballots cast.

In Milwaukee County, officials found 386 votes that had not been counted on Election Day.

In Dane County, more than 100 votes were thrown out because absentee ballot envelopes did not have a voter signature, a witness signature, or a witness address.

Trump vows to sue:

"The Wisconsin recount is not about finding mistakes in the count, it is about finding people who have voted illegally, and that case will be brought after the recount is over, on Monday or Tuesday," Trump said on Twitter.

Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis also said the team would file a lawsuit this week.

"As we have said from the very beginning, we want every legal vote, and only legal votes to be counted, and we will continue to uphold our promise to the American people to fight for a free and fair election," she said in a statement.

But the recount did not turn up any evidence of fraud, and Trump’s team and his allies have lost virtually every election-related lawsuit filed this month.

Georgia recount ongoing:

Along with the recount in Wisconsin, Georgia is also recounting its 5 million votes at the request of the Trump campaign.

Biden leads by more than 12,000 votes in the state and a hand recount of all the ballots did not affect the result.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger dismissed the chances of Trump flipping the election by recount and criticized him for stoking baseless conspiracy theories about the votes.

"There are those who are exploiting the emotions of many Trump supporters with fantastic claims, half truths and misinformation,” he said, “and frankly, they are misleading the president as well."

 

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