Trump could invoke martial law to force election 'rerun' in swing states: Former aide

Former National Security advisor General Michael Flynn has once again suggested that outgoing US President Donald Trump could use the military to force an election “rerun” in battleground states, saying such measure is “not unprecedented.”

Flynn made the comment during an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, suggesting Trump should invoke martial law to prevent President-elect Joe Biden from taking office next month.

“There is no way in the world we are going to be able to move forward as a nation. [Trump] could immediately, on his order, seize every single one of these [voting] machines,” the former presidential aide said in apparent reference to the conspiracy theory that voting software had been hacked to flip Trump’s votes for Biden. 

“Within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities, and he could place those in states and basically rerun an election in each of those states,” he added.

Describing the use of military force as “not unprecedented” among the American public, Flynn said, “These people are out there talking about martial law like it's something that we've never done. Martial law has been instituted 64 times.”

Flynn has been one of the most prominent voices in supporting Trump's claims of election fraud in recent weeks, as the campaign continues to face losses in numerous legal battles.

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Donald Trump reiterates that his legal battle to overturn the results of the November 3 presidential election is not yet over.

Trump’s former aide first floated the idea of invoking martial law in a tweet earlier this month, which was immediately condemned by defense officials and military experts.

Trump has relentlessly promoted claims that the US presidential election race on November 3 was riddled with fraud and that he could not otherwise have lost to his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.

His campaign has over the past month mounted multiple legal challenges in key swing states in an attempt to overturn the results. Most of the lawsuits have been rejected in courts.

The Supreme Court delivered last Friday yet another blow to the Trump campaign when it rejected a long-shot Texas lawsuit seeking to toss the results in four battleground states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

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Donald Trump has criticized the Supreme Court for refusing to hear a lawsuit launched by his Republican allies in Texas attempting to overturn the November election.

Trump has so far refused to concede defeat although some members of his Republican Party have acknowledged Biden’s victory in the disputed November election, with US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, congratulating Biden and Kamala Harris on their election victories.

Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell acknowledged the Democrats won the White House after the Electoral College affirmed Biden's victory over Trump on Monday.

Biden won the election with 306 electoral votes, exceeding the 270 required to cement his presidential win over Trump.

Biden is set to take the oath of office as president at a public ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, January 20, 2021, on the West Front of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

Trump has vowed not to change his mind about “tremendous cheating” in the presidential election.

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