According to sources cited byThe New York Times,the meeting was rowdy,with Pat Cipollone,the White House counsel,and Mark Meadows,the White House chief of staff,forcefully rejecting the ideas being floated.
Loading
Also attending the meeting was Sidney Powell,a lawyer whose outlandish claims about the election - including suggesting that Venezuela's late president Hugo Chavez rigged it from the grave - led to her being dropped by the Trump legal team.
Apparently back in the Trump fold,she was considered as a potential special counsel tasked with investigating the fraud allegations.
Reports of the meeting were dismissed as"fake news"and"bad reporting"by Trump on Twitter.
Still refusing to accept that he lost,Trump has called for a massive rally in Washington on January 6,the day when both houses of Congress meet to formally confirm Joe Biden's election.
"Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 election,"he tweeted."Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there,will be wild!"
The next stage in the election timetable is when the House and Senate hold a joint session to count the electoral votes.
Normally the meeting is a formality but Mo Brooks,a congressman from Alabama has said he will challenge the result. If he can find a senator to do likewise,then the result would have to be debated in both chambers for up to two hours.
Given that the Democrats hold a majority in the House andseveral Republican senators have said they accept the result,there is no chance of the election being overturned.
Meanwhile,more than 1.3 million Georgians have voted in two Senate run-offs taking place next month - a number that rivals the turnout at this point in the November election and points to intense enthusiasm in a pair of races that will determine control of Congress.
Democratic voters have an edge in the early turnout ahead of the January 5 run-offs pitting Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler against Democrat Raphael Warnock,and Republican Senator David Perdue against Democrat challenger Jon Ossoff,aWashington Post analysis of Georgia voter data shows. But Republicans are closing the gap,and the current Democratic lead is slightly smaller than it was at this point in the general election.
The voter data offers little insight into which candidates may benefit from the early surge,with polls showing that the races are neck and neck. But the figures underscore the enthusiasm in both political parties. The results could determine whether Biden can enact a more ambitious Democratic agenda or whether Republicans can block initiatives they oppose.
About 36,000 Georgians who did not vote in November cast ballots early for the January runoffs,according to state data. That includes people who were too young to vote last month.
Voters have been subject to a barrage of get-out-the-vote activity and advertising. Campaigns and independent groups have spent more than $400 million on advertisements,ad data shows.
"These are highly motivated people who want to get in and do this stuff,"said Gabriel Sterling,a top official in the Georgia Secretary of State's office who manages the voter information system. But he said he didn't know if the turnout would continue at the same pace with the holidays approaching.
The Telegraph,London;The Washington Post