Category: 2020 Election

From a presidential commission to Trump-nominated judges, here’s who has rebuked Trump’s voter fraud claims

Washington Post logo

President Trump’s extraordinary phone call with fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, in which he urged Georgia‘s secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn Trump‘s defeat, is not the first time Trump has tied an unfavorable election outcome to false claims of fraud.

Trump‘s latest efforts are part of a years-long pattern. But Trump’s baseless claims have been rebuked by many people, including Republicans and the judges he appointed to the bench.

Here are groups and individuals who have found no merit in Trump’s attacks on the election system: Continue reading.

Trump Repeats Debunked Election Claims in Call With Georgia Official

New York Times logo

President Trump, in an hourlong telephone call with Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, repeated a number of false and misleading claims about election results in the state that have been circulating on social media. Here’s a fact check.

WHAT MR. TRUMP SAID

“Then it was stuffed with votes. They weren’t in an official voter box, they were in what looked to be suitcases or trunks, suitcases but they weren’t in voter boxes. The minimum number it could be because we watched it and they watched it certified in slow motion instant replay if you can believe it, but it had slow motion and it was magnified many times over, and the minimum it was 18,000 ballots, all for Biden.”

False. Mr. Trump was most likely referring to debunked claims that a water leak at a vote counting location in Fulton County forced an evacuation and made it possible for trunks full of ballots to be rolled in. Election officials have said and surveillance videos show that this did not happen. Continue reading.

Rep. Louie Gohmert Backpedals On ‘Be Violent’ Comments After Election Lawsuit Loss

The Texas lawmaker compares his philosophy to Martin Luther King’s, even as he rails to overthrow the democratic election.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) issued a statement Saturday backpedaling on his controversial comments indicating that street violence is the only recourse in the wake of his lawsuit loss to overturn the results of the democratic presidential election.

Gohmert made the remarks about violence Friday on the far-right news channel Newsmax. He spoke after U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle shot down his court case that argued Vice President Mike Pence has the power to unilaterally reappoint Donald Trump as president by selectively choosing the electoral votes he’ll recognize, and replacing the others with votes for Trump.

The judge ruled Gohmert had no standing to sue. Continue reading.

Carl Bernstein Says Latest Trump Tapes Are ‘Far Worse’ Than Watergate

Audio of the president trying to persuade a Georgia official to change election results is “the ultimate smoking gun tape,” the Watergate journalist said.

The leaked tapes of Donald Trump trying to pressure Georgia’s secretary of state to overturn the president’s election defeat are “far worse” than what occurred in the Watergate scandal, journalist Carl Bernstein said Sunday.

Bernstein, whose reporting of the 1972 political scandal led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, said the bombshell tapes of Trump were evidence of an attempted coup.

“It’s not déjà vu. This was something far worse than occurred in Watergate,” Bernstein told CNN. “We have both a criminal president of the United States in Donald Trump and a subversive president of the United States at the same time in this one person.” Continue reading.

Trump’s pressure on Georgia election officials raises legal questions

In audio from a Saturday phone call, the president is heard urging the officials to reverse his loss.

President Donald Trump’s effort to pressure Georgia officials to “find” enough votes to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory could run afoul of federal and state criminal statutes, according to legal experts and lawmakers, who expressed alarm at Trump’s effort to subvert democracy with less than three weeks left in his term.

“We have won the election in Georgia based on all of this. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, Brad,” Trump told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on an hourlong Saturday phone call, according to a recording of the conversation, which also included Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and legal advisers to the president. “And the people of Georgia are angry. The people in the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.”

POLITICO has confirmed the recording, which was first obtained by The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The leaked audio comes as Congress is set to certify the Electoral College votes on Wednesday. At least 12 incoming and current Republican senators, along with well over 100 Republican representatives, have said they are going to challenge the results based on unsupported allegations of voter fraud. Continue reading.

‘You’ve Created the Controversy. You’re the Arsonist Here’: Chuck Todd Rips Trump Sycophant Senator

“How about the moon landing? Are you going to hold hearings on that?” the host snarked

Meet the Press host Chuck Todd pulled no punches during an interview with staunch Trump ally Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) on Sunday morning.

After an explainer of Johnson’s and other officeholders’ planned attempt to subvert democracyby opposing the certification of the Electoral College vote for President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, the host laid into the Trump sycophant for pretending to try to fix a problem that the president and lawmakers, like Johnson, duped supporters into believing in the first place.

“You made an allegation that there was widespread fraud. You have failed to offer specific evidence of that widespread fraud. But you’re demanding an investigation on the grounds that there are allegations of widespread fraud,” the host said. Continue reading.

All 10 living former defense secretaries: Involving the military in election disputes would cross into dangerous territory

Washington Post logo

Ashton Carter, Dick Cheney, William Cohen, Mark Esper, Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, James Mattis, Leon Panetta, William Perry and Donald Rumsfeld are the 10 living former U.S. secretaries of defense.

As former secretaries of defense, we hold a common view of the solemn obligations of the U.S. armed forces and the Defense Department. Each of us swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We did not swear it to an individual or a party.

American elections and the peaceful transfers of power that result are hallmarks of our democracy. With one singular and tragic exception that cost the lives of more Americans than all of our other wars combined, the United States has had an unbroken record of such transitions since 1789, including in times of partisan strife, war, epidemics and economic depression. This year should be no exception.

Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived. Continue reading.

Ex-GOP Speaker Ryan denounces effort to challenge Electoral College results

The Hill logo

Former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Sunday blasted Congressional Republicans’ efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“Efforts to reject the votes of the Electoral College and sow doubt about Joe Biden’s victory strike at the foundation of our republic. It is difficult to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act than a federal intervention to overturn the results of state-certified elections and disenfranchise millions of Americans,” Ryan said in a statement.

“The Trump campaign had ample opportunity to challenge election results, and those efforts failed from lack of evidence,” the statement continues. “The legal process was exhausted, and the results were decisively confirmed. The Department of Justice, too, found no basis for overturning the result. If states wish to reform their processes for future elections, that is their prerogative. But Joe Biden’s victory is entirely legitimate.” Continue reading.

Who is on Team Trump Coup?

UPDATED January 7, 2021, to show who actually voted to overthrow the 2020 election.

Here’s a list of individuals elected to Congress, who swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, who are now throwing their word aside to swear fealty to Donald Trump.

  • U.S. Vice President
    • Mike Pence — on January 6, Vice President Pence said he had no power to overturn the votes of the American people during the Electoral College vote certification
  • U.S. Senators
    1. Marsha Blackburn (R, Tennessee) — after Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, decided not to contest
    2. Mike Braun (R, Indiana) — after Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, decided not to contest
    3. Ted Cruz (R, Texas)
    4. Steve Daines (R, Montana) — after Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, decided not to contest
    5. Bill Hagerty (R, Tennessee) — after Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, decided not to contest
    6. Josh Hawley (R, Missouri) — even during the Trump rioters’ storming of the Capitol, Sen. Hawley was fundraising, and when the Senate debate was restarted, he will continue objecting to legally-cast electoral votes.
    7. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R, Mississippi)
    8. Ron Johnson (R, Wisconsin) — after Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, decided not to contest
    9. John Kennedy (R, Louisiana)
    10. James Lankford (R, Oklahoma) — after Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, decided not to contest
    11. Kelly Loeffler (R, Georgia) — after Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, Sen. Loeffler decided not to contest
    12. Cynthia Lummis (R, Wyoming) — after Trump rioters stormed the Capitol, decided not to contest
    13. Roger Marshall (R, Kansas)
    14. Rick Scott (R, Florida)
    15. Tommy Tuberville (R, Alabama)
Continue reading “Who is on Team Trump Coup?”

Fox News host rips ‘outrageous’ GOP Electoral College plot: ‘It’s a very dangerous precedent’

AlterNet logo

Fox News host Jedidiah Bila on Sunday criticized Republicans who want to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory by officially objecting to the results of the Electoral College.

“I actually find it really outrageous,” Bila explained to Fox News host Howard Kurtz. “And the reason is that if you look at what’s gone on here, I think the media has actually been pretty fair, particularly the news divisions.”

“This has gone through the courts,” she continued. “Sixty cases have been brought to the courts, oftentimes widespread voter fraud has not even been alleged in court because there simply isn’t evidence to support that. If you look at the evidence that has been shown, it does not support that.” Continue reading.