‘Jim Crow-Like Attack’: Wisconsin and Michigan AGs Slam Team Trump, GOP Efforts Targeting Black Voter Strongholds

The attorneys general in the swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin called out the Trump campaign and local Republican officials for a pattern of questioning the validity of the vote in heavily African-American strongholds.

Speaking with CNN host Don Lemon on Wednesday night, Attorneys General Josh Kaul (WI) and Dana Nessel (MI) walked through the state of the election challenges in their respective states. To start the discussion off, Lemon played a clip of a Trump campaign lawyer boldly claiming that after the upcoming partial recount in Wisconsin, a state where President-elect Joe Biden currently leads by more than 20,000 votes, will flip it into Trump’s column.

“Set the record straight for us,” Lemon said to Kaul. “Have you heard about any improper behavior?”

“No, not at all. In fact, we had a remarkably smooth process,” Kaul said. “You know, there were election officials around our state who were working to prepare to respond to a really extraordinary situation, conducting a presidential election in the midst of a pandemic and the process went incredibly smoothly. We had record turnout, and there are no issues.”

Kaul’s assessment was echoed earlier on Tuesday night by two county clerks in Dane and Milwaukee Counties, who hailed the efficiency of their voting processes and pushed back against the Trump campaign’s disinformation attacks on the election results.

“What we’re seeing is an attack on counties that have a majority of the black population in Wisconsin, This really is a Jim Crow-like attack that we’re seeing between what we’re seeing in Wisconsin and what we saw in Michigan on the results of this election,” Kaul continued. “We had a recount four years ago and nothing like this has been ever overturned. What we’re seeing is an attempt to heavily scrutinize votes in heavily Democratic and heavily minority areas with the goal of trying to disenfranchise our fellow Wisconsinites who wanted their voices heard in this election.”

Lemon then turned to Michigan and noted that, just the day before, Trump repeatedly made the false, and easily debunked claim that more people voted in Detroit during the election than actually live there. “Are the GOP and Trump trying to steal the election in Michigan? What is going on here?” the CNN host asked.

“Well, I mean it certainly appears that way,” Nessel replied. “I live in Wayne County. We have 1.7 million people who live here. So there are at least 12 states in the country that have fewer people than we do here in Wayne County. Yet we had the Republicans on the Board of Canvassers in Wayne County initially refused to certify the election, which was — I mean it was unprecedented, nothing that I had seen before.”

Nessel was referring to an incident from the night before, where Republicans on the Wayne County Board of Canvassers initially voted against certifying Biden’s massive win, only to backtrack after triggering a massive backlash from the public and state officials. During the canvass board’s public meeting, one of GOP officials even floated the idea of certifying the votes in all of the mostly-white suburbs in the county, while blocking approval of the election results of the majority-Black city of Detroit.

“After they were scorned and ridiculed and shamed, did they decide to go ahead and actually do their job, which, by the way, by law they’re mandated to do,” Nessel explained. “This is not a choice they get to do, and certify the election. Only after one of the Republicans said she would be willing to certify all of the suburban areas outside of Detroit but not the city of Detroit. So I would say that they really — you know, they kept on their mask but they really pulled out their hoods.”

On Wednesday, the entire state of Michigan fully certified its 2020 vote, with Biden winning by more than 150,000 votes.

Lemon then turned back to Wisconsin.

“So, Attorney General Kaul, simple question here: Do you have any doubt at all that Wisconsin’s votes will go to Joe Biden?”

“No, I have none. The margin is far more, multiple times more than any margin that has ever been overcome in a recount,” Kaul noted. “The fundamental problem the Trump campaign have is people showed up to vote, votes were legally cast and more voted for Joe Biden. At the end of the day that’s what will determine the outcome of the election.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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