Pennsylvania AG Responds to Trump's SCOTUS Threat: 'The President Doesn't Count These Votes'

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro responded to President Donald Trump's threats of an aggressive legal battle in the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the state from counting mailed-in ballots received in the three-day period after Election Day.

"The bottom line is, we're going to make sure here in Pennsylvania, that we respect the will of the people. We're going to get an accurate count," Shapiro told Good Morning America on Wednesday. "It's the law. The law says, 'Count every eligible vote and that's exactly what's happening all across Pennsylvania right now.'"

When asked about the president threatening to go to the Supreme Court to stop the counting, Shapiro told Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopolous that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has largely settled this issue.

"The president doesn't count these votes, the clerks in our communities count these votes," he said. "The legal issues have largely been settled, and now it's time to count these votes and make sure that the will of the people is heard."

He added: "We're not going to let anything interfere with that process, we just need to have a little bit more patience."

Pennsylvania's importance in the election becomes more evident as the week goes on, particularly as Trump has been projected to win some of the Sun Belt's most significant states, Texas and Florida. Democratic nominee Joe Biden is looking to flip Pennsylvania, which went for Trump in 2016 with just over 44,000 votes, as a key to the presidency, along with hotly contested Michigan and Wisconsin.

But the counting of mail-in ballots could take days, as the state accepts these ballots until the Friday after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by November 3. The ballots will also be counted even if they don't have a clear postmark, as long as there's no substantial proof that the ballot was sent out after Election Day.

Trump has consistently spoken out on the state's extension for accepting mail-in ballots, threatening to take legal action as ballot-counting continues. Earlier this week, the president said "we're going in with our lawyers" after Tuesday's polls closed, according to the Associated Press.

Republicans have railed against the decision by Pennsylvania's highest court which allowed the three-day extension. Last month, justices on the U.S. Supreme Court denied a plea by Pennsylvania Republicans to decide whether election officials can continue accepting mail-in ballots after November 3. The justices were divided 4 to 4, thus upholding the state court's ruling.

"It would be highly desirable to issue a ruling on the constitutionality of the State Supreme Court's decision before the election," said Justice Samuel Alito, who voted against the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision. "That question has national importance, and there is a strong likelihood that the State Supreme Court decision violates the federal Constitution."

Last week, Pennsylvania officials instructed local election officials to segregate ballots arriving after 8 p.m. on Election Day and until 5 p.m. on November 6.

In response to the possibility that the Supreme Court could invalidate the ballots received during the extension period, Shapiro said he is confident that states—not the federal government—will be able to determine the process of counting ballots.

"The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania looked at that question and determined that ballots that were postmarked by Election Day and were received up until Friday at 5 p.m. were valid and could be counted," Shapiro said. "On two separate occasions, petitioners asked the United States Supreme Court to step in and overturn that... or invalidate it, and on two separate occasions, they didn't do that."

He noted the Purcell principle, which states that the courts shouldn't change election rules just before an election due to the possibility that it could confuse voters. Shapiro said that "matters of state election law should be left to the states" and that federal courts shouldn't "meddle with that."

Trump fired back at the Supreme Court for their refusal to block the state's decision, calling it "dangerous."

"The Supreme Court decision on voting in Pennsylvania is a VERY dangerous one," Trump tweeted on Monday. "It will allow rampant and unchecked cheating and will undermine our entire systems of laws. It will also induce violence in the streets. Something must be done!"

Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign for comment Wednesday.