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The outgoing president, who has yet to give in to Biden weeks after news networks called for the race for the former Democratic vice president, dusted off his most ridiculous claims as Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo sat down without objection in the interview. live phone on Sunday.
Trump claimed, without providing any evidence, that some states allowed voters to turn in their ballots after Election Day; that the vote counting machines were rigged to favor Mr. Biden; and even that the FBI, the Department of Justice and the federal judicial system were complicit in an attempt to cover up the electoral fraud.
None of these statements is true. Even the president’s own campaign legal team has never alleged fraud in court because they know there is no case.
Yet Trump once again unsubstantiated asserting that the 2020 election was “rigged” against him, just minutes after senior Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri admitted on another network, CNN, that the election was not. actually manipulated.
“This election was rigged. This election was a total fraud, ”Trump said.
Perhaps most illuminating about the president’s thinking regarding the election was his disbelief that the courts, including several federal judges he has appointed over the past four years, have almost uniformly ruled against his campaign legal team in their attempt. for annulling the election results.
“I wanted to file a lawsuit: Donald J. Trump, president of the United States against … you know,” said the president, unable to name who would be the defendant in such a lawsuit.
“Put everything in one suit. And they say, ‘Lord, you can’t stand.’ I say, ‘Can’t I stand up? President of the United States, am I not entitled? What kind of judicial system is this? “Trump said.
Lamenting the limits of executive power, Trump also lamented that his FBI and the Justice Department were not doing more to prosecute allegations of electoral corruption.
Meanwhile, Ms. Bartiromo encouraged him to persist.
“Where is the Justice Department and the FBI in all of this, Mr. President? He has filed some serious charges here. Shouldn’t this be something the FBI is investigating? Is it them? “She said.
Trump responded: “Missing in action. I can’t tell you where they are. “
The outgoing president later admitted that he had asked the advisers if those law enforcement organizations were following his orders with regard to overturning the election results.
“I ask, ‘Are you looking at it?’ They all say, yes, they are looking at it, ”he said in a downcast voice.
Trump then alluded to the “deep state” conspiracy that permeates the modern Republican party, complaining that the top brass of the intelligence community have been there “for a long time” and have no loyalty to individual presidents like him.
The intelligence community operates the way it does, precisely so that presidents cannot bend agencies to their political will as Trump has tried to do for the past four years.
“The FBI is excellent at the levels we speak of, but I just… it’s unthinkable. You’d think if you’re in the FBI or the Justice Department, this is the most important thing you could be looking at, ”he said of the allegations of voter fraud.
“Where are they? I haven’t seen anything. I mean, I just … they keep moving forward and move on to the next president,” Trump said.
The outgoing president’s rhetoric has had a substantial impact on the way Americans view democracy at home.
Bartiromo pointed to a Reuters poll that found that more than two in three registered Republicans believe the 2020 election suffered from widespread electoral fraud.
But Trump simply repeated the lie that the judges are preventing him from presenting evidence. In fact, they have invited the Trump campaign to present evidence and make specific allegations of voter fraud time and again, but the campaign has declined.
“We are trying to present the evidence and the judges will not allow us to do so,” Trump said. “We are trying.”
