"We have seen numerous instances where affidavits have been filed … only to be immediately pulled back once tested in state and federal court," said Racine, whose own lawsuit against Trump in connection with the president’s Washington, D.C., hotel is on hold pending appeal. "I would not be surprised that if these baseless allegations continue, judges will begin to threaten and indeed issue sanctions."

Even before the election, judges were voicing skepticism about the Trump claims that the election would be undermined by fraud -- something the president asserted frequently on social media and at political rallies, but rarely actually documented.

"Central to some of the plaintiffs' claims is the contention that the upcoming election, both nationally and in Montana, will fall prey to widespread voter fraud," U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen in Helena, Montana, a Barack Obama appointee, said in late September ruling against a Trump campaign filing to halt mail-in voting in the state. "The evidence suggests, however, that this allegation, specifically in Montana, is a fiction."

'Then what's your problem?'

As the legal effort grew following the election, judges appeared to grow increasingly agitated by the claims. In Michigan, Judge Cynthia Stephens questioned attorneys about a sworn affidavit that Republican attorneys had gathered in which a witness said they were told about mishandling of ballots.

"What I have, at best, is a hearsay affidavit," said Stephens, who was appointed by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat. "If there is something in that affidavit that would indicate that the [witness] observed activity that would be a depravation of the rights of poll watchers, I want you to please focus my attention on that. ... 'I heard somebody else say something.' Tell me why that's not hearsay. Come on now."

In Pennsylvania, Trump's lawyers had suggested their poll observers had been shut out of the locations where ballots were being counted. So when the lawyers acknowledged that the observers had, in fact, been permitted within 15 feet of the poll workers, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond, appointed by then-President George W. Bush, appeared baffled.

"I'm sorry, then what's your problem?" Diamond chirped.

n a federal case meant to disqualify cured ballots, Judge Timothy Savage, another Bush appointee, questioned the very premise of the Republican attorney's arguments. "I don't understand how the integrity of the election was affected," Savage said during a Nov. 4 hearing.

One lawyer representing Republican poll challengers in Michigan argued that coronavirus restrictions meant they were positioned as far as 20 feet back "to the point where you can't see anything."

Judge Timothy M. Kenny took umbrage: "Where's the facts about that?" On Friday, Kenny, who has served on the state court for more than 24 years, rejected the request to block the certification of results and order an independent audit. He did not mince words, describing the GOP poll watchers' "interpretation" of events inside the Detroit counting facility at the TFC Center as "incorrect and not credible."

"Plaintiffs rely on numerous affidavits from election challengers who paint a picture of sinister fraudulent activities occurring both openly in the TCF Center and under the cloak of darkness," Kenny wrote, noting that those claims were "decidedly contradicted" by an election expert put forth by the defense.

David Kallman, the attorney for the poll challengers, told ABC News he would be appealing the ruling Monday. "We disagree totally with what [the judge] said," Kallman said.

When Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Judge Richard P. Haaz grilled Trump campaign lawyer Jonathan Goldstein at a court hearing last week, he wanted to know the basis for the Trump claims of fraud.

"I am asking you a specific question, and I am looking for a specific answer. Are you claiming that there is any fraud in connection with these 592 disputed ballots?" said Haaz, a Democrat.

"To my knowledge at present, no," Goldstein replied.