Trump fans wearing MAGA hats and holding rifles protest outside election center

Donald Trump fans sporting MAGA hats and holding semi-automatic rifles protested outside election centers Monday while the president added TV networks to his growing list of those to blame for his defeat. 

Heavily armed ‘Stop the steal’ demonstrators gathered for another day Monday outside the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Arizona, in response to the president’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud across several swing states. 

A small group also gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the place where votes pushed Joe Biden to victory Saturday and where the Trump campaign filed yet another lawsuit to throw out votes Monday.   

Social media giants have pushed back against the ‘Stop the steal’ protests, with Facebook banning the ‘group from its platform citing ‘worrying calls for violence from some members’, as more than 48 hours after the election was called Trump continues to refuse to concede to Joe Biden. 

Young, maskless Trump supporters gathered outside the Arizona counting center Monday wearing MAGA hats and Trump-Pence flags, while wielding semi-automatic weapons. 

Others waved American flags while a van was decorated in the confederate flag and Gadsden flag – both of which are regarded as racist symbols. 

The crowds appeared to have thinned out compared to the weekend with only a handful turning out. 

In Philadelphia, where votes continue to be counted six days on from election day, a handful of Trump supporters waved ‘Trump-Pence’ and American flags, while counterprotesters held up ‘count every vote’ signs nearby.  

The ongoing protests come as Trump and his campaign continues to push baseless claims the election has been ‘stolen’ from him.  

Trump laid into Fox News Monday night accusing it and several other networks of ‘tampering with the election’ in his latest accusations leveled around why he lost the race.

He reeled off a barrage of tweets Monday accusing Fox and several other outlets of ‘election interference’ because their polls were ‘so far off’ in several states.

He singled out Fox saying it was ‘wrong on everything’ adding to his increasingly fractured relationship with Fox News and Murdoch. 

‘@FoxNews, @QuinnipiacPoll, ABC/WaPo, NBC/WSJ were so inaccurate with their polls on me, that it really is tampering with an Election. They were so far off in their polling, and in their attempt to suppress – that they should be called out for Election Interference,’ Trump blasted. 

‘ABC/WaPo had me down 17 points in Wisconsin, the day before the election, and I WON! In Iowa, the polls had us 4 points down, and I won by 8.2%! Fox News and Quinnipiac were wrong on everything,’ he wrote.

‘The worst polling ever, and then they’ll be back in four years to do it again. This is much more then voter and campaign finance suppression!’

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany also launched into a string of unsubstantiated claims during a press conference Monday afternoon, leading to her being cut off by Fox News’ host Neil Cavuto.

McEnany claimed the Democrats oppose voter ID laws, the verification of signatures, citizenship, residency and other identity markers, and that they had prevented Republican poll observers watching ballots being counted. 

‘You don’t take these positions because you want an honest election,’ McEnany said.

‘You take these positions because you are welcoming fraud and you are welcoming illegal voting.’ 

She continued saying ‘we want every legal vote to be counted and we want every illegal vote – ‘ before Neil Cavuto cut across her. 

‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. I just think we have to be very clear: she’s charging the other side as welcoming fraud and illegal voting, unless she has more details to back that up, I can’t in good countenance continue to show you this,’ Cavuto said.  

Cavuto said the network would return to the press conference if McEnany presented any evidence to back up the claims. 

‘But that’s an explosive charge to make, that the other side is effectively rigging and cheating, if she does bring proof of that of course we’ll take you back so far she has started saying, right at the outset, welcoming fraud, welcoming illegal voting,’ Cavuto said.   

Fox did not resume airing the press conference and when McEnany was later asked by a reporter for evidence of fraudulent votes, she was unable to present anything simply asking for ‘patience’. 

Despite the lack of evidence put forward, Trump was able to pursue additional legal challenges Monday.  

His campaign filed another lawsuit in Pennsylvania court against the secretary of state and seven counties making its case to throw out more than 600,000 votes 

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Pennsylvania, claims there was an illegal ‘two-tiered’ voting system where voters were held to different standards depending on whether they voted in person or by mail.     

Attorney General William Barr also authorized federal prosecutors across the US to pursue ‘substantial allegations’ of voting irregularities before the 2020 presidential election is certified.

The move from Trump’s close ally – despite the lack of evidence – was met with an immediate backlash with the Justice Department official who oversees investigations of voter fraud announcing he was standing down.  

Richard Pilger said he would step down from the post within hours, according to an email he sent to colleagues that was obtained by The New York Times.