Trump campaign manager laments election fraud campaign has turned into 'amateur hour': CNN

According to a report by CNN's John Harwood, Trump 2020 campaign manager Bill Stepien -- who was brought in late to save a faltering re-election bid by Donald Trump -- admitted to staffers that the efforts to paint the result of the election as fraudulent had become "amateur hour."

Reporting on the Trump administration's efforts to undermine the 2020 election, Harwood said it all might come to a close next week when staffers receive what may be their last paychecks.

"Sources are telling CNN the Trump campaign is now planning a messaging blitz to claim the election is being stolen and the campaign considering holding campaign- campaign-style rallies to amplify the complaints," CNN host John King began. "John Harwood joins me -- I get losing is terrible especially for a president who says he's always a winner but the math here is pretty overwhelming."

"It's one of the strangest things I've seen covering politics at least as long as you have, John," Harwood replied. "We know from the magic wall that Joe Biden is president-elect -- not because the wall is magic but it incorporated the votes of 150 million Americans. States have not certified their results yet, however, it's clear that Joe Biden will have more than enough votes to win the election. and the prospect of the president overturning enough votes in enough states to change that is negligible."

"They haven't offered any evidence but are nevertheless pressing ahead with press conferences, potentially rallies and with legal fights. Legal fights will tend to get thrown out quickly if there is not evidence behind them and the question is how long can this go on?" he reported before adding, "Bill Stepien, the campaign manager, had a staff meeting this morning which he said we're still in the fight but he even acknowledged what he called 'amateur hour' in part of the efforts by the campaign, including the circulation of fake photo-shopped headlines from newspapers in the Bush/Gore fight a long time ago."

"So how long can the Trump campaign and the Trump White House go on before they are worn down by reality? We don't know the answer," he added. "But one date to watch is November 15th. That's when the paychecks run out for the Trump campaign staff and that potentially is where some of the steam might come out of the effort."

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