Trump once again misleads with bogus claims of voter fraud

“I’m telling you, in California, in the great state of California, they settled, and we could’ve gone a lot further. Judicial Watch settled where they agreed that a million people should not have voted, where they were 115 years old and lots of things, and people were voting in their place.”

— President Trump, remarks at a news conference, April 8, 2020

In our database of Trump’s false or misleading claims, there are many items that we have collected over the years that for some reason or another had not risen to the level of a full fact check. But here’s a situation where the president’s persistent effort to advance a false narrative cries out for a Pinocchio rating — especially because his latest remarks prompted puzzled inquiries from readers.

Let’s take a look.

Trump, without evidence or by relying on dubious sources, has persistently claimed that massive voter fraud is occurring in the United States. The most recent major case allegedly involved a Republican operative, in North Carolina, but Trump instead suggests such fraud is being perpetrated on behalf of Democrats, especially in blue states. In recent days, he has attacked the whole notion of mail-in voting in a time of coronavirus social distancing, even though he votes by absentee ballot. Continue reading