Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference

After Election Day on November 3, 2020, Philadelphia election officials had set up absentee ballot counting efforts in the Pennsylvania Convention Center According to The New York Times, Trump's team had intended to hold the press conference at the landscaper business but the president thought 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. At 10:45 a.m., the hotel verified that the event was at the landscapers. PBS reporter Daniel Bush said an unnamed company representative told him the Trump campaign had called the landscapers and said their location "was close to an exit on I-95, and was secure, and that's why they wanted to use it." The local Republican ward leader told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he was not 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." It was later revealed that an hour before the event was first announced, a Trump staffer had called the former director of sales at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, Sean Middleton, to ask if the company would be willing to host a news conference. After getting permission from the owner Marie, Middleton drove to the venue to meet with Michael Siravo, director of operations and Marie Siravo's son. The meeting lasted around 10 minutes, at which point the venue was decided on. ==Event==

Journalists who arrived took note of the surrounding neighborhood. "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. Four Seasons is on the same block as a sex shop, across the street from a crematorium, and down the road from the Philadelphia Department of Prisons. Giuliani did not offer any explanation as to why the news conference was being held at that location. In Four Seasons' parking lot, with help from Corey Lewandowski and Pam Bondi, a lectern had been set up in front of a garage door papered over with Trump campaign signs in red and blue. Speakers and a microphone had been installed. Giuliani and Lewandowski came in with a group of people the former identified as poll watchers who they said had been prevented from properly observing the counting procedure. In reference to the poll watchers, Giuliani stated "this is only two or three of about 50 people so far that have given us statements, affidavits, recordings. We're going to have many, many witnesses." Also in attendance was a personal friend of Giuliani's, Bernard Kerik, who had recently received a full presidential pardon for offenses including tax fraud and lying to White House officials. Before the press conference began, a journalist present announced that CNN had just projected Biden's victory. During the event, while Giuliani was stating how strong their case was, a reporter interrupted to say that all of the major news networks were now joining in projecting Biden's victory. Giuliani asked "Who was it called by?" Sky News correspondent Mark Stone replied by saying "All the networks." Giuliani then responded by looking heavenward and striking a pose of mock crucifixion, saying: Giuliani also expressed in reference to Trump that "Obviously he's not going to concede when at least 600,000 ballots are in question." As he spoke, some reporters began packing their equipment and leaving, before he had finished and the poll watchers had spoken. Allegations Giuliani said that Philadelphia "has a sad history of voter fraud" including ballots submitted by dead people, specifically mentioning boxer Joe Frazier and actor Will Smith's father. The claims, which potentially originated from a pro-Trump blog the day before the event, were quickly dismissed by Philadelphia city officials. After looking into the cases of Frazier and Smith as well as a list of others, Republican City Commissioner Al Schmidt told White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins that "Not a single one voted in Philadelphia after they died." The first speaker Giuliani called up to speak about the alleged election fraud was Daryl Brooks, a registered sex offender. Without mentioning a specific amount, Giuliani also stated that "[t]here certainly is enough evidence to disqualify a certain number of ballots." Lewandowski cited one case of what he said was a documented deceased Pennsylvania voter, Denise Ondick, of Homestead in Allegheny County, near Pittsburgh. According to her online obituary, she died on October 22. Voting records show a mail-in ballot was sent to her two days later; on November 2, the ballot was recorded by the Pennsylvania Department of State's tracking system. The Inquirer said it was unclear whether that meant it had actually been counted. Ondick's family confirmed that she had received an absentee ballot application; her daughter said she had helped her mother, who planned to vote for Trump, fill it out two days prior to her death and the state records show the application was received the day after Ondick died. But she had not mailed the ballot in after her mother died, and she said her father could not recall doing so. Lewandowski said that his cited evidence was not empirical or anecdotal, and that it was hard evidence, one of many exhibits that would be filed with the court. Election officials in Allegheny County said they would investigate. An official complaint was never filed; the county referred the matter to its police department. ==Aftermath==

One journalist likened the event to an appearance by Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi driving a golf cart and carrying a large umbrella as NATO forces began bombing the country to support a 2011 rebellion. "It was intended to project perseverance and strength—it had the opposite effect." Public reaction CNN reported that the event was "widely ridiculed". The "Fraud Street Bike Ride" was organized by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia to provide additional donations and included a bike-friendly route using bike lanes and multi-use paths along the Delaware River. The idea for the event came from Larry Kaplan, a West Chester–based volunteer who in 2016 raised nearly by doing the Ice Bucket Challenge. ==In popular culture==

The event received broad coverage on American late-night talk shows with mentions on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Late Late Show with James Corden, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and The Daily Show. On August 21, 2021, punk rock musician Laura Jane Grace played a concert at the venue to a sold-out crowd of 200 people. The concert was potentially going to be cancelled due to zoning and permitting issues, but they were resolved. A documentary about the press conference, entitled Four Seasons Total Documentary, was aired on MSNBC on November 7, 2021. When Giuliani appeared on the seventh season of The Masked Singer in 2022, one of the clues for the judges about his identity was a list of the four seasons, a reference to the press conference's location. ==See also==