President Trump continued to level criticisms of the 2020 election’s integrity during his first post-election TV interview with Fox’s Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. The president claimed he had “hundreds and hundreds of affidavits” supporting his case, however, he did not provide new evidence.
One of the many allegations Trump made during the interview was ballot counters “backdating” mail-in ballots that arrived after Election Day with a date before Nov. 3, so the ballots could be counted.
“The election ended, and they gave people an extension to vote. That’s never happened before,” Trump said. “In other words, the election ended, but we’ll give you more time if you want to vote, and what I understand is they didn’t think it was good either, so they backdated all these ballots that came in, and they had people, and we have affidavits on that too. People backdating ballots, so somebody came in fourth or fifth or sixth, which was illegal because the legislature didn’t approve it.”
A Trump campaign affidavit regarding the Pennsylvania election alleged backdating in Erie earlier this month was recanted after the individual, a Postal Service employee, was interviewed by inspector general investigators.
Here are the facts: Richard Hopkins is a USPS employee in Erie, Pa.
He signed a sworn affidavit with allegations of ballot tampering/fraud and went public through Project Veritas. #USPS IG began investigating last week.
— Oversight Committee (@OversightDems) November 10, 2020
Throughout the interview, Trump repeated allegations that dead people voted in the election, that ballots were thrown out ahead of the election, and that Dominion systems interfered with the election. So far, there is no evidence supporting allegations of widespread voter fraud.
“This is the craziest thing you’ve ever seen, but many ballots with the name Trump on were thrown out,” Trump said. “You’ve read that. They found ballots in a river with the name Trump on from the military. They were signed, and they were floating in a river.”
Wisconsin election officials have refuted allegations that mail found in a ditch, not a river, included any ballots.
Trump warned that if the United States continues to use mail-in ballots, Republicans will stop winning elections.
“The mail-in vote is a disaster, and by the way, if Republicans allow it to happen, you’ll never have another Republican elected in the history of this country at a Senate level or at a presidential level,” he said. “You’ll never win at the house level. Mail-in voting is a total disaster.”
Trump added that he wished to file “one suit” alleging widespread voter fraud across the country, even though elections are run by individuals states, not the federal government, but that courts won’t accept such a lawsuit because he lacks proof.
“They say we don’t have proof,” Trump said. “I wanted to file one suit, Donald J. Trump, president of the United States against, you know, put everything into one simple suit and they say, ‘Sir, you don’t have standing.’ I say, ‘I don’t have standing? You mean as president of the United States, I don’t have standing?’ What kind of a court system is this?”
“We could have a great case. We do have a great case. We have the greatest case ever,” Trump added. “We have many different forms of fraud. It’s not just one form. It’s ballot fraud, we have it all documented, and we have tremendous evidence, so I’ll say we want to show you the evidence, and then the judge will say they didn’t show us the evidence.”
Trump did not respond when asked which lawsuits his legal team is currently engaged in he expects will make it to the Supreme Court.
“Well, the problem is it’s hard to get into the Supreme Court,” Trump said. “Can you imagine? Donald Trump, president of the United States, files a case, and I probably can’t get a case even with, and we have tremendous, we have hundreds and hundreds of affidavits, sworn affidavits, and it’s very hard to get a case to the Supreme Court. That’s what everybody is fighting for.”
