Trump Team Files Altered PA Election Lawsuit, Withdrawing Parts

PENNSYLVANIA —Some of the most aggressive language in a Trump campaign lawsuit over the Pennsylvania election results has been dropped in an altered filing submitted in federal court on Sunday, ahead of the first hearing in the case scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

At the heart of the alterations made to the suit is the oft-repeated allegation that GOP poll watchers were not granted close enough access to the ballot counting process. While the claim that the tabulation of 682,479 mail-in ballots was "hidden" from watchers remains, the claim that the state was "in direct contravention of the Election Code" was removed.

>>Trump Team Files Lawsuit To Block PA Election Results

The remainder of the allegations in the original suit are still there. It alleges, without evidence, that the state employed a "two-tiered" voting system in which greater security was afforded to in-person voting than mail-ins. The suit aims to stop the Pennsylvania Department of State from certifying the final election results.

President Trump and his aides took issue with the media characterization of the changes, published by the Washington Post and others, which stated that the claims had been withdrawn.

"Just more Fake News," Trump said on Twitter Monday morning. "Harassment and exclusion of our Poll Watchers is a big part of our case. Unconstitutional!"

But in fact, several pages of the original 85-page filing were removed, including dozens of specific references to how Pennsylvania apparently violated its Election Code.

Importantly, the suit no longer requests relief specifically for the claim that election observers were not allowed to be close enough to the ballot counting process.

In court documents filed Monday morning in response to the GOP's amended suit, lawyers for Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said that the remaining allegations "merit dismissal."

The news comes just days after the leading law firm representing the GOP in the case, Porter Wright Morris and Arthur, withdrew. Though lawyers did not elaborate on the reasons behind their decision, a recent New York Times report cites growing discomfort within the firm over the ethics of challenging election results without evidence.

The first hearing in the case will be held 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.