The race to file lawsuits challenging the election results has forced lawyers into mistakes and uncomfortable court appearances.
In a chaotic effort to overturn the election results, President Trump and lawyers representing his campaign have spent weeks claiming without convincing proof that rampant voter fraud corrupted vote tallies in many battleground states. But their lawsuits challenging the outcome have repeatedly broken down because of defective filings, sloppy paperwork, dubious claims by witnesses and lawyers who have admitted in court that they were not alleging fraud. Here are some of the more embarrassing moments. Days after the election, lawyers for the Trump campaign brought a lawsuit in Maricopa County claiming, in part, that some number of Republican voters used Sharpies to mark their ballots, rendering them unreadable by voting machines and leading to uncounted votes. The complaint also included affidavits from several voters and poll watchers who said that poll workers had capitalized on the confusion to nullify votes for Mr. Trump. But in a hearing on Nov.12, Kory Langhofer, a lawyer for the Trump campaign, conceded that the complaint was not based on evidence of voter fraud but rather on a “limited number of cases” of “good-faith errors” in the count. “This is not a fraud case,” Mr. Langhofer said. “We are not alleging fraud. We are not saying anyone is trying to steal the election.” Under questioning, witnesses repeatedly stated that they did not have any reason to believe that their ballots or those of other voters were not counted. Later in the hearing, Daniel Arellano, the Arizona Democratic Party’s counsel, directed questions to Zack Alcyone, one of the witnesses, who admitted that he was a business partner of Mr. Langhofer’s. Asked if he was being paid to testify in the case, Mr. Alcyone said he was uncertain. “Um, not that I know of, I haven’t discussed it,” he said. “But you may be?” Mr. Arellano asked. “It’s possible, I guess, I’m not sure,” Mr.
