Lara Trump’s RNC spreads claims of ‘massive fraud’ in 2020 election

CNN
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The Republican National Committee last week sent scripted calls to voters’ cell phones on behalf of new co-chair Lara Trump, claiming that Democrats committed “massive fraud” in the 2020 election. .

This is how the RNC, led by the former president’s daughter-in-law, lied about the 2020 election, even as prominent Republicans say the party needs to look to victory in 2024. This is the latest example of how it continues.

“We all know the problems: lack of photo ID, unsecured ballot drop boxes, mass mailing of ballots, voter rolls full of deceased people and non-citizens, and the large scale that has occurred.” This is just one example of serious misconduct,” the RNC conference call said. “If Democrats have their way, your vote could be canceled by someone who is not even an American citizen.”

The claims of “massive fraud” in the 2020 election mark a major shift in the RNC’s message, as lies about the 2020 election have not been a consistent theme of the RNC’s messaging since President Donald Trump left office. There is.

But the call’s message is broadly consistent with the views Lara Trump, who was elected co-chair in early March as part of Donald Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party, has publicly espoused over the past four years. Lara Trump has a long history of aligning herself with claims of election fraud, according to a CNN KFile analysis of her past statements as a commentator and on behalf of the former president.

The call, obtained by CNN’s K-File from the anti-robocall application Nomorobo, “certainly agrees with the Trump co-chairs that we cannot afford to allow the confusion and doubts of the 2020 election to arise again.” Stated. Between April 1 and April 7, 145,000 calls were sent containing this message.

This comes amid an earlier CNN report that the RNC is asking employees applying for re-employment if they think the 2020 election was stolen as an apparent litmus test for hiring. is. The RNC denied the existence of such a litmus test. Lara Trump and new chair Michael Whatley replaced Drew McKissick and Ronna McDaniel, who were dissatisfied with the RNC’s response to allegations of fraud before and after the 2020 election, CNN previously reported. .

There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, as some state Republican election officials and even former Trump Attorney General William Barr have acknowledged. The former president and his supporters filed more than 60 lawsuits in six key battleground states after the election, but lost each one. And they have yet to uncover evidence of the rampant fraud they continue to talk about in their election campaigns.

However, since the 2020 election, Lara Trump has continued to make claims of fraud. Her comments echo those of her father-in-law, who has successfully rebuilt her Republican image and easily won her third straight Republican nomination this year.

For example, polls show that a majority of Republican voters believe the results of the 2020 election were unfair. In a CNN poll released last September, 71% of Republicans said that President Joe Biden “did not receive enough votes to legitimately elect him.”

From November 2020 to February 2024, Lara Trump promoted theories of Democratic fraud in the 2020 presidential election. And even after she was elected co-chair and said her claims that the election was stolen were “in the past,” she did not deny these baseless accusations of hers.

“Well, I think it’s past now. I think it’s in the past. We’ve learned a lot.” President Trump said in an interview on NBC that his claims that the 2020 election was stolen will be in 2024. “Certainly, we took a lot of notes,” he said in response to a question about whether that would be the RNC’s official position, adding, “We’re filing lawsuits in 23 states to prove that for sure. ” he continued. “It’s made it harder to cheat and easier to vote,” he said, raising questions about pandemic-era voting procedures in the 2020 election.

Trump also added in the same interview that Republicans need to “trust mail-in voting.”

Neither the RNC nor Lara Trump responded to multiple requests for comment.

As recently as February 2024, Lara Trump said she did not believe Biden received 81 million votes in the 2020 election.

“Does anyone really believe that in 2020, 81 million people were impressed by someone who only had 10 people in attendance[for the event]resulting in the highest turnout in election history?” she said. Just days before he announced his appointment as RNC co-chair, he spoke at an event for President Trump in South Carolina. “No, we don’t believe that.”

She often spread outlandish and nonsensical claims about the 2020 election on her internet shows, podcasts, and public events.

On an episode of her show that aired on December 30, 2020, President Trump agreed with his co-host that this election did not pass the “smell test,” saying that dead voters contributed to Biden’s victory. Falsely implied that it contributed.

“I don’t know if this is true, but someone sent me this: Donald Trump received 74 million votes. There are 133 million registered voters in the United States. If all the eligible voters went out and voted (which we know is basically impossible), but that doesn’t happen, Joe Biden would only have 59 million votes left. So how on earth would he vote? Did he get 81 million votes?” she said.

Comments cite a widely debunked analysis that misrepresents the number of people eligible to vote.

“You’re discriminating against dead people, Lala. How dare you do that!” one co-host said.

“Oh, yes. That’s true,” she replied.

A CNN analysis previously found no evidence to support this claim and debunked misinformation spread online by Trump supporters in the wake of the 2020 results.

The 2020 election saw record turnout, with 155 million people voting, according to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau. This marked the highest voter participation in the 21st century, with 66.8% of eligible citizens over the age of 18 voting.

Later in the episode, President Trump said: [Democrats] I know the Republicans aren’t going to let it go. They’re not going to certify votes for Joe Biden. And they’ll probably vote for Donald Trump for a second term. ”

In a podcast episode a few weeks ago, she claimed that once the mail-in votes were counted, the odds of Biden winning in battleground states were “one in a quintillion to the fourth power,” but she didn’t cite any statistical analysis. Ta.

Although Biden narrowly lost in-person voters, 46% of voters cast their ballots by mail in 2020. According to a Pew Research analysis, Mr. Biden took the lead as the vote count progressed.

Although there was nothing unusual or illegal about the process, Lara Trump also cited fraudulent vote counting.

“We have to make up for any wrongdoing,” President Trump said on his podcast in September 2023. “I know Democrats like that. We need to come into this with a big enough lead that we’re like, ‘Oh my God, we can’t do this 3 a.m. spike.’ we will never succeed. ”