How did it come to this? One of the most respected election monitors in the world has accused President Donald Trump of a “gross abuse of office” following his desperate attempts to shut down vote counts and mislead Americans about the election result. Michael Georg Link, a German lawmaker who’s heading up an international observer mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to the U.S. elections, told German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung that he can barely believe what he’s seen this week. “The most disturbing thing was that with presidential fanfare of the White House, that is, with all the insignia of power, the American commander in chief called for an end to the count because of his purported victory,” said Link. Link said Trump’s claims of vote manipulation are “baseless” and should be ignored.