Trump renews claim he 'won the election' and will pay $3 million for partial recount in Wisconsin - as he blames 'harassment' for Michigan Republicans' U-turn to certify Biden victory in Detroit

 President Donald Trump renewed his claims Wednesday that he 'won' the election despite President-elect Joe Biden getting millions more votes than he did – after suffering a public reversal in Michigan on an effort to disregard the vote count.

He also claimed that the embarrassing reversal in Michigan, which saw the Republican members of the Wayne County canvas board refuse to certify the results from Detroit, until they backtracked hours later in the face of outrage and accusations of racism, was because they were 'screamed at and viciously harassed.'

The initial refusal had been seen as a first step towards Trump having the Republican-held Michigan legislature ignore the election results and seat its own Electoral College electors, who would back him - but the sudden about-face left that door closed to Trump and certified instead a Joe Biden victory in Wayne County, and by extension Michigan.

After the tweetstorm, the Trump campaign announced it will pay $3 million for a partial recount in Wisconsin, where he lost to Biden by more than 20,000 votes. The funds would pay to recount votes in Milwaukee and Dane Counties, which went heavily for Biden. 

The two counties 'were selected because they are the locations of the worst irregularities. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. transferred $3 million to Wisconsin to cover the estimated cost of the recounts,' according to the Trump campaign, following reports that it would cost nearly $8 million to recount the entire state. They include the cities of Milwaukee and Madison, and both are Democratic strongholds.

Recounts in Wisconsin and across the country have historically resulted in very few vote changes. A 2016 presidential recount in Wisconsin netted Trump - who opposed it happening - an additional 131 votes.  

The recount in Georgia was set to finish later Wednesday with officials there saying it was on course to show no change to the outcome of a Biden victory.

But the tweetstorm and the recount move showed that Trump is not giving up on his belief that he can overturn the election results.

Trump claimed he 'won' the election during his early morning speech hours after the polls closed on Election Day, but at other times has said he will 'win' once court cases are litigated.

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The president claimed he 'WON' the election, renewing claims of fraud and that the election was 'rigged.' He retweeted a New York Times graphic thread, which indicated Trump grew his vote from 2016 – but President-elect Joe Biden grew Hillary Clinton's by more 

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Trump also called it a 'rigged election'

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Trump also complained about a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court against his campaign

On Wednesday morning, he he president retweeted a map from the New York Times showing that he won 10.1 million more votes than he got in 2016, including in areas with a majority of Hispanic voters. Trump and his top aides have regularly pointed to his raw vote totals, even while claiming the election was 'rigged.' 

Trump added in all-capital letters: 'AND I WON THE ELECTION. VOTER FRAUD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY!' 

What the Times graphic didn't note is that Democrat Joe Biden has received nearly 6 million more votes than Trump, eclipsing Hillary Clinton's win over Trump in the national popular vote (a statistic that carries significance but does not determine the winner). 

If Trump were to click on the Twitter thread, he would see that the second post said Biden exceeded Hillary Clinton's vote total by 12.6 million votes, performing better in urban and suburban counties. Biden also enjoyed 'desertions' from the 'GOP white middle class,' according to the tweets. 

Twitter noted after Trump's claim that he won that 'multiple sources called this election differently' – a reference to calls by Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, the Associated Press, and the New York Times.  

On that score, he has suffered repeated setbacks as he did at the hands of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, Trump suffered a publicly awkward defeat when two Republicans on a Wayne County elections board refused to certify the vote that included Detroit.

Their decision not to certify hundreds of thousands of votes drew a brutal rebuke from a poll watcher in a zoom session – but also praise from the president on his Twitter account.  

'Wow! Michigan just refused to certify the election results! Having courage is a beautiful thing. The USA stands proud!' Trump gleefully tweeted shortly after 9 pm Eastern. 

But just minutes after he vouched for the effort that Trump critics were calling part of a slow-motion coup, the two election officials flipped and agreed to certify the election results. 

Trump revisited that issue Wednesday, retweeting a report on the stunning turnaround after they voted to certify the results.

'Wrong! At first they voted against because there were far more VOTES than PEOPLE (Sad!). Then they were threatened, screamed at and viciously harassed, and were FORCED to change their vote, but then REFUSED, as American patriots, to sign the documents. 71% MESS. Don’t Harass!' Trump wrote.

The two Republican officials performed their dramatic back-flip after being blasted by a Democratic poll watcher.  

Monica Palmer and William Hartmann - who serve as the two Republican members on the four-person Wayne County Board of Canvassers - sparked outrage on Tuesday when they initially declared they would not sign off on their district's ballot count which had Joe Biden ahead by 148,000 votes. 

The pair were subsequently lambasted in a Zoom meeting by Ned Staebler, a prominent Michigan businessman who worked as a poll watcher in the large county, which encompasses the city of Detroit. 

'I just want to let you know that the Trump stink, the stain of racism that you have covered yourself in, is going to follow you throughout history,' Staebler raged, noting that the pair specifically refused to certify results in Detroit, which has a population that is around 80 percent black.

He pointed out that the pair appeared to have no qualms in certifying results from a nearby city which was 95 percent white, despite the fact there were larger discrepancies between votes cast and counted in that area.  

Canvasser argues with members who refused to certify county ballots

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Monica Palmer and William Hartmann - who serve as the two Republican members on the  Wayne County Board of Canvassers - have spectacularly back-flipped and decided to certify the election results in their district, after initially voting not to 

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The pair were lambasted in a Zoom meeting by Ned Staebler, a prominent Michigan businessman who worked as a poll watcher in Wayne County (pictured)

Staebler further referenced that Hartmann and Palmer had previously certified a primary election earlier this year which had larger discrepancies than those found in the November 3 presidential election.  

'You will forever be known in southeastern Michigan as two racists who did something so unprecedented that they disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of black voters in the city of Detroit, because they were ordered to,' Staebler raged. 

'Just know when you try to sleep tonight that millions of people around the world on Twitter know the names William Hartmann and Monica Palmer as two people completely racist and without an understanding of what integrity means or a shred of human decency.'

'The law isn't on your side, history won't be on your side, your conscience will not be on your side and, Lord knows, that when you go to meet your maker, your soul is going to be very, very warm.'

Shortly after Staebler's stinging rebuke, both the Republicans back-flipped, agreeing to sign off on the ballot count in Wayne County and delivering a crushing blow to President Trump in his quest to contest the outcome of the election. 

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Hartmann and Palmer looked a little stunned after being blasted on the Zoom call by Staebler 

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump and other Republicans were overjoyed at news Hartmann and Palmer had initially refused to sign off on the election results. 

Many believed the act would embolden other conservative officials in key states to take similar action, potentially delaying or preventing Biden from becoming President. 

'Wow! Michigan just refused to certify the election results! Having courage is a beautiful thing. The USA stands proud!' Trump gleefully tweeted shortly after 9 pm Eastern. 

But just minutes after that tweet, Hartmann and Palmer spectacularly flip-flopped and agreed to certify the election results.   

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Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday night that Michigan's Wayne County had 'refused to certify the presidential election results' - just minutes before they actually did so 

Trump gleefully tweeted about what looked to be a massive win for him in Wayne County - before two Republicans changed their votes

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Election workers process absentee ballots at the Detroit Department of Elections Central Counting Board of Voting the day after the election 

According to The Detroit Free Press, their certification is contingent on having 'the Michigan Democratic Secretary of State conduct an independent comprehensive audit of all of the jurisdictions in the county that recorded unexplained discrepancies between the number of absentee ballots recorded as cast and the number of absentee ballots counted.'

The Democrat members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers have agreed to that action. 

Staebler was not the only person on the Zoom call to condemn Hartmann and Palmer.  

Others say their decision not to sign off on the ballot count it as 'a dangerous attempt to overthrow the will of voters'. 

The Rev. Wendell Anthony, a well-known pastor and head of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, called the Republican county canvassers a 'disgrace.'

'You have extracted a black city out of a county and said the only ones that are at fault is the city of Detroit, where 80 percent of the people who reside here are African Americans. Shame on you!' Anthony said at a meeting, which was conducted virtually over Zoom.

Palmer said she was reluctant to certify the vote count as poll books in certain Detroit precincts were out of balance.

In response, Jonathan Kinloch, a Democrat, said it was 'reckless and irresponsible' to not certify the results.

'It's not based upon fraud. It´s absolutely human error,' Kinloch said of any discrepancies. 'Votes that are cast are tabulated.'

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Jonathan Kinloch - a Democrat on the Wayne County Board of Canvassers - is pictured

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Allen Wilson, who serves as the second Democrat on the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, is pictured with Senator Chuck Schumer 

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In this Nov. 4, 2020 file photo, a Republican election challenger at right watches over election inspectors as they examine a ballot as votes are counted into the early morning hours at the central counting board in Detroit

However, Kinloch was heartened after the Republicans reversed course and agreed to certify the election results. 

'It restored my faith in the fact that yes, government does work, that yes, the people can make a difference," he told The Detroit News. 

The city's mayor, Mike Duggan, was also happy with the outcome. 

'Glad to see common sense prevailed in the end," he told the publication, adding that the two Republican board members would have committed 'an historically shameful act' if not for their U-turn.