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Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Itisdiplomatic (talk | contribs) at 06:29, 9 November 2020 (→Background: Will refer to the specific cited quote of the NY Times to avoid speculation.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Four Seasons Total Landscaping is a small landscaping company in the Holmesburg neighborhood of northeastern Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. On November 7, 2020, Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City and attorney for incumbent president Donald J. Trump, hosted a news conference at the company's garage door and parking lot to discuss the status of the campaign's legal challenges to the ballot-counting process in Pennsylvania, where Trump's early lead over Joe Biden in that year's presidential election had shifted to a shortfall as mailed-in ballots in heavily Democratic Philadelphia were counted. A Biden victory in Pennsylvania would give him enough electoral votes to win the election.

Shortly after Giuliani began talking to the assembled reporters, the Associated Press projected Biden as the winner of the Pennsylvania vote and thus that year's presidential election. Two news outlets characterized the event as the end of Trump's presidency, although he had not conceded the election and his campaign's legal actions continued.[1][2]

Background

After Election Day, Philadelphia election officials had set up absentee ballot counting efforts in the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City, as downtown Philadelphia is known locally. The streets in the area had been filled with demonstrators supporting both candidates.

Two days earlier, campaign spokespeople Corey Lewandowski and Pam Bondi had attempted to talk to the media just outside the Convention Center about a court ruling that allowed campaign observers to stand closer to the counting tables. Pro-Biden demonstrators nearby played Beyonce's "Party" so loudly that Bondi could not be heard.[3] Lewandowski decided the Trump campaign needed to find a venue where such disruption was less likely, in a part of the city where voters had been more supportive of his candidacy.[4]

Early on November 7, Trump tweeted the location of the press conference as "Four Seasons". Shortly afterwards he issued another tweet, clarifying that the venue was Four Seasons Total Landscaping.[4] According to The New York Times, Trump's team had intended to hold the press conference at the landscapers, but the president had believed they meant the upscale Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia in Center City. “In reality, the mistake was not in the booking, but in a garbled game of telephone,” the New York Times wrote.[5][6] At 10:45 a.m., the hotel verified that the event was at the landscapers.[4]

PBS reporter Daniel Bush said an unnamed company representative told him the Trump campaign called and said their location "was close to an exit on I-95, and was secure, and that's why they wanted to use it."[5] The local Republican ward leader told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he had not been notified in advance, and that neither Four Seasons' owner Marie Siravo nor anyone in her family were particularly involved in local politics. She had expressed support for Trump on a Facebook page in August, but was not exceptionally vocal, saying "we don't need to invite him for dinner".[4]

Event

Journalists who arrived took note of the surrounding industrial park. "It was in that part of town that every town has, where businesses which have no right being grouped together nonetheless gather due to one reason or another—usually the cheap rent" observed the British newspaper The Independent. Across the street was a sex shop and crematorium. Before the news conference began, a journalist present announced that CNN had just projected Biden's victory.[1]

Around the back, in Four Seasons' parking lot, a lectern had been set up in front of a garage door papered over with Trump-Pence campaign signs in red and blue. Speakers and microphone had been installed. Giuliani and Lewandowski came in with a group of people the former identified as poll watchers whom they said had been prevented from properly observing the counting procedure.[3] He did not offer any explanation as to why the news conference was being held at this location.[4]

When reporters alerted Giuliani that all of the major news networks were now joining in projecting Biden's victory, Giuliani responded by looking heavenward and striking a pose of mock crucifixion, saying, "Come on, don't be ridiculous. Networks don't get to decide elections. Courts do."[7] Guiliani also claimed that Philadelphia "has a sad history of voter fraud," claiming dead people submitted ballots, and that "[t]here certainly is enough evidence to disqualify a certain number of ballots."[5] As he spoke, some reporters began packing their equipment and leaving, before he had finished or allowed the poll watchers to speak.[3]

Following the press conference, Four Seasons Total Landscaping posted on Instagram thanking police for their participation. "Would like to thank the fabulous Philadelphia men and women in blue making this event a safe place," they wrote, and that the company's Instagram bio describes the firm as a "woman-owned, minority business… that does great landscaping & perfect snow removal" and is "trying to make America green again!"[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Hall, Richard (November 8, 2020). "I saw Donald Trump's presidency come crashing down at Four Seasons Total Landscaping". The Independent. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  2. ^ Markay, Lachlan; Suebsaeng, Asawin; Stein, Sam (November 7, 2020). "The End of the Line for Trumpland Is a Poorly Rated Sex Shop in North Philly". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Burns, Katelyn (November 8, 2020). "The Trump legal team's failed Four Seasons press conference, explained". Vox. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e Roebuck, Jeremy; Hanna, Maddie; Goodin-Smith, Oona (November 8, 2020). "No, not that Four Seasons. How Team Trump's news conference ended up at a Northeast Philly landscaping firm". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c "US Election 2020: Trump laywer Rudy Giuliani's Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference mistake goes viral". News.com.au. Retrieved 9 November 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Karni, Annie; Korasiniti, Nick (November 7, 2020). "Which Four Seasons? Oh, not that one". The New York Times. Retrieved November 9, 2020.
  7. ^ Zak, Dan; Heller, Karen (November 8, 2020). "It began on a gold escalator. It may have ended at Four Seasons Total Landscaping". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  8. ^ "Trump campaign appears to mistakenly book car park outside landscaping firm 'Four Seasons' for press conference". Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 9 November 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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