Faced With Defeat, Armed Protesters in Arizona Insist Election Stolen

Hundreds of supporters of President 👤Donald Trump rallied in downtown Phoenix on Saturday to contest Joe Biden’s election as U.S. president, charging the media with conspiring to steal the election and calling the results a “coup.”

The Trump campaign lent support to protests questioning the current vote tally, filing a lawsuit in Arizona Saturday over rejected ballots that Arizona’s Secretary of State said was “grasping at straws.”

Trump’s campaign alleged the Southwestern state’s most populous county incorrectly rejected votes cast on Election Day by some voters in the U.S. presidential race. The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court in Maricopa County, said poll workers told some voters to press a button after a machine had detected an “overvote.”

Pro-Trump protesters have been assembling outside the Maricopa County Elections Department and at the Arizona State Capitol for days, espousing unsubstantiated claims that Democratic operatives had interfered with the election to illegitimately deliver Arizona to Biden.

They have chanted “Count the legal votes! We are watching you!” outside the building where election workers continue to count votes.

Tensions escalated on Saturday, with protesters at one point threatening to take down the fence cordoning off the elections department and some media members from the group.

At the state capitol building Saturday afternoon, speakers exhorted the crowd not to accept the results of the election, calling on paralegals and law students to come the president’s defense.

“We all know President Trump won this election!” one shouted. Another told the crowd to look in the mirror and ask themselves what they were willing to do. Chants of “liberty or death!” rang out.

A number of far-right and militia groups such as the Proud Boys and Three Percenters were also in the crowd on Saturday, many armed with semi-automatic weapons.