Trump campaign says Washington Post's story on Pennsylvania suit 'intentionally misleading'

The Trump campaign is disputing a Washington Post story on Sunday night stating the campaign had dropped a lawsuit alleging that nearly 700,000 ballots were illegally processed in secret in Pennsylvania.

The Trump campaign said in a statement Monday that due to a separate ruling on Friday by the state's Third Circuit Court of Appeals, attorneys have "strategically decided to restructure (their) lawsuit to rely on claims of violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."  

Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said: "We are still arguing that 682,479 ballots were counted illegally, in secret. Our poll watchers were denied meaningful access to watch the vote counting and we still incorporate that claim in our complaint.

"Unfortunately, fake news activists rushed to print their clickbait headlines, apparently without even reading the lawsuit. That’s lazy journalism at best, but more likely intentionally misleading."

Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who is leading the campaign's coordinated legal strategy, said: "It’s routine for attorneys to file amended complaints to tighten the claims. We simplified the suit so it is more focused and narrowed. This is part of the process. Clearly the reporters at Washington Post have a reading deficit." 

The campaign is challenging the results on the Nov. 3 presidential election, in which Democrat Joe Biden appears to have more votes than President Trump, based on concerns of widespread voter fraud. 

In addition to arguing that ballots were improperly counted, the Trump campaign is also arguing that it was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause for election workers to notify voters in some counties that their mail-in ballots were defective, giving them the opportunity to cast provisional ballots. That same warning and subsequent opportunity was not provided to voters in all Pennsylvania counties.