WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a primetime TV address Thursday night, the President echoed debunked claims of election interference in the 2020 elections. Election integrity watchdogs said the Administration’s claims fall short of proving the election was rigged.
In the address, Donald Trump alleged there was a cover-up by his own officials in his first term and claims countries like China attempted to influence opinion in the US and downloaded publicly available voter rolls from several states.
“This evidence shows that the election system we have dangerously exposes and really exposes like levels never thought possible to hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference,” said the President. “Just as disturbingly this vital information has for many years been covered up and hidden from you.”
However, the documents did not reveal new weaknesses in the country’s election systems or show that foreign governments manipulated any votes.
He used his remarks to urge Congress to pass a strict voter ID bill, which has not received enough support from his fellow Republicans to pass.
Democrats have accused the President of trying to plant doubt in our elections ahead of the midterms.
“The White House promised a bombshell, and they delivered a dud,” said David Becker, the executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.
Election integrity watchdogs said the Administration has failed to provide any evidence to substantiate the claims they’ve made.
“There was nothing here that was news, nothing here that helped call into question past elections, certainly not the 2020 election,” said Becker. “This Administration has spent 18 months in office and with all of the power in federal government they have directed resources from the intelligence community from the FBI, from the DOJ, to the Department of Homeland Security, trying to conjure up some kind of evidence of massive election theft. After who knows how much taxpayer money has been wasted on this; after 18 months, after spreading lies and disinformation about our elections. The culmination was last night’s speech and release of documents that frankly didn’t change anything.”
