Giuliani Joins PA Election Lawsuit As More Trump Lawyers Back Out

PENNYSLVANIA — As another set of lawyers withdrew from the election lawsuit in Pennsylvania Tuesday morning, President Trump's leading counselor Rudy Giuliani has petitioned to join the case. The move came just hours before the first federal court hearing in the case early Tuesday afternoon.

The motion for withdrawal marked the latest discord amongst Trump's litigators, some of whom have reportedly balked at representing a challenge to the election results. Nearly the entire legal team which began the suit has now been replaced.

Aside from Giuliani, Harrisburg attorney and radio talk show host Marc Scaringi was named as the new head of the case for the Trump team. That's despite Scaringi publicly saying on his radio show that court challenges to Joe Biden's win in Pennsylvania will not work. "It will not reverse the election," he said on Nov. 7, according to The Washington Post.

>>Trump Team Files Altered PA Election Lawsuit, Withdrawing Parts

The lawyers who left the case most recently — Linda A. Kerns, John Scott, and Douglass Bryan Hughes — did not provide a reason for their departure. Neither did the two attorneys with the Cleveland, Ohio-based firm, Porter Wright Morris and Arthur, when they withdrew on Friday.

In an altered filing submitted in court Monday, the Trump campaign removed or mollified much of the most aggressive and legally binding language in the suit, which aims to block the Pennsylvania Department of State from certifying the final election results. Among its numerous claims, the suit says the state broke the law by operating a "two-tiered" voting system in which mail-in ballots were not as secure as in-person votes. There is no evidence to support that allegation.

Lawyers with another prominent firm that has represented the Trump campaign in the past, Jones Day, told the New York Times they believed the suit was not designed to succeed in court, but rather to simply damage the public's faith in the American electoral system.

It's not the only drama associated with the case in the 48 hours leading up to the first scheduled hearing. According to Trump campaign director of communications, Tim Murtaugh, a different lawyer on the case has "abusive e-mails, calls & physical & economic threats," from Kirkland and Ellis, the firm representing the state in the case. Trump's team filed a motion claiming harassment.

Further, late Monday, Scaringi filed a motion requesting the first hearing be delayed to allow him additional time to review the case. He said he was not prepared. The judge denied it.

As a conservative commentator, Scaringi has a history of supporting the Trump campaign and much of its messaging, writing on Twitter in recent weeks about Hunter Biden's emails and arguing the Biden campaign has been treated favorably by the media.

The first hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at U.S. District Court in Williamsport, Pennsylvania on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. An evidentiary hearing will follow on Thursday at 10 a.m.