It pays to lose an election: Trump and the GOP raise a whopping $207M since Election Day - fueled by donations to pay for challenges to Biden's win

 President Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee have raised $207.5million since Election Day, according to a statement on Thursday, gathering donations to pay for challenges to Democrat Joe Biden's win.

The post-election fundraising haul brought the combined fundraising of Trump committees between October 15 and November 23 to $495million, the Trump campaign said.

Biden's campaign raised $112million during the same period, according to a filing with the Federal Elections Commission on Thursday.

Trump has refused to concede defeat and alleged without evidence that Biden's victory came thanks to widespread voter fraud.

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President Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee have raised $207.5million since Election Day, according to a statement on Thursday, gathering donations to pay for challenges to Democrat Joe Biden's win

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Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said in the statement that the fundraising haul 'positions President Trump to continue leading the fight to clean up our corrupt elections process in so many areas around the country'. Trump supporters pictured on November 5 

Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, said in the statement that the fundraising haul 'positions President Trump to continue leading the fight to clean up our corrupt elections process in so many areas around the country'.

Soon after the election, Trump's campaign began sending solicitations to supporters by email and text making pleas for donations to an 'Official Election Defense Fund' to 'protect the results and keep fighting even after Election Day'.

The fine print made clear most of the money would go to other priorities, including retiring the debts of Trump's campaign. 

The president and his allies have filed numerous lawsuits in battleground states but have failed to present proof of widespread fraud or problems that could have affected the results.

On Thursday, attorneys for Trump's reelection campaign told a judge in Nevada that more than 85,000 votes in the state were cast illegally. 

They claimed that more than 8,000 absentee ballots cast in Nevada had fake addresses and nearly 20,000 votes were cast by non-residents. The attorneys also said that at least 1,500 dead people voted and there were 42,000 double votes.

At least 1 per cent of the voters who voted by mail-in ballots did not actually submit them, the attorneys claimed. 

Republicans on Thursday again asked the US Supreme Court to block Biden's victory in the battleground state.

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Trump has refused to concede defeat and alleged without evidence that Biden's victory came thanks to widespread voter fraud. Biden-Harris supporters are seen on November 14 in North Carolina

Republican US Rep Mike Kelly of northwestern Pennsylvania and the other plaintiffs asked the high court to prevent the state from certifying any contests from the election and undo any certifications already made, such as Biden's victory, while its lawsuit is considered.

They maintain that Pennsylvania's expansive vote-by-mail law is unconstitutional because it required a constitutional amendment to authorize its provisions.

However, in a sign that the case is likely too late to affect the election, Justice Samuel Alito ordered the state's lawyers to respond by December 9, a day after what is known as the safe harbor deadline. 

That means that Congress cannot challenge any electors named by this date in accordance with state law.

Biden beat Trump by more than 80,000 votes in Pennsylvania, a state Trump had won in 2016. Most mail-in ballots were submitted by Democrats.

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court threw out the case Saturday. Kelly's lawyers sought an injunction Tuesday in the US Supreme Court, then withdrew it while they asked the state's high court to halt any certifications until the US Supreme Court acts. The state's justices refused Thursday, and Kelly's lawyers promptly refiled the case in the US Supreme Court.

In the state's courts, justices cited the law's 180-day time limit on filing legal challenges to its provisions, as well as the staggering demand that an entire election be overturned retroactively.

In addition to challenging the state's mail-in voting law, Kelly's lawyers question whether the state's justices violated their clients' constitutional rights by throwing out the case on the basis of time limits and barring them from refiling it on the same grounds.

Lawyers for Gov Tom Wolf, a Democrat, said in court filings that Kelly's lawyers never before argued that the US Constitution provides a basis for their claims, making it 'highly unlikely' the US Supreme Court will grant what they are seeking.

In the underlying lawsuit, Kelly and the other Republican plaintiffs had sought to either throw out the 2.5 million mail-in ballots submitted under the law or to wipe out the election results and direct the state's Republican-controlled Legislature to pick Pennsylvania´s presidential electors.

Earlier this week, Arizona and Wisconsin certified their election results for Biden. 

On Thursday, a divided Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to hear Trump's lawsuit attempting to overturn his loss.

In another blow to Trump, two dissenting conservative justices questioned whether disqualifying more than 221,000 ballots as Trump wanted would be the proper remedy to the errors he alleged.

The defeat on a 4-3 ruling was the latest in a string of losses for Trump's post-election lawsuits. Judges in multiple battleground states have rejected his claims of fraud or irregularities.

Trump asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to disqualify more than 221,000 ballots in the state's two biggest Democratic counties, alleging irregularities in the way absentee ballots were administered. 

His lawsuit echoed claims that were earlier rejected by election officials in those counties during a recount that barely affected Biden's winning margin of about 20,700 votes.

Swing Justice Brian Hagedorn joined three liberal justices in denying the petition without weighing in on Trump's allegations. Hagedorn said the law was clear that Trump must start his lawsuit in lower courts where factual disputes can be worked out.

'We do well as a judicial body to abide by time-tested judicial norms, even - and maybe especially - in high profile cases,' Hagedorn wrote. 

'Following this law is not disregarding our duty, as some of my colleagues suggest. It is following the law.'