President Trump, in an hourlong telephone call with Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, repeated a variety of false and deceptive claims about election ends in the state which have been circulating on social media. Right here’s a reality verify.
What Mr. Trump Stated
“Then it was full of votes. They weren’t in an official voter field, they have been in what appeared to be suitcases or trunks, suitcases however they weren’t in voter packing containers. The minimal quantity it may very well be as a result of we watched it and so they watched it licensed in sluggish movement immediate replay should you can consider it, nevertheless it had sluggish movement and it was magnified many instances over, and the minimal it was 18,000 ballots, all for Biden.”
False. Mr. Trump was most certainly referring to debunked claims {that a} water leak at a vote counting location in Fulton County pressured an evacuation and made it attainable for trunks filled with ballots to be rolled in. Election officials have mentioned and surveillance videos present that this didn’t occur.
A water leak prompted a delay for about two hours in vote counting on the State Farm Enviornment, however no ballots or tools have been broken. Georgia’s chief election investigator, Frances Watson, testified {that a} “assessment of all the safety footage revealed that there have been no thriller ballots that have been introduced in from an unknown location and hidden below tables.”
All through the cellphone name, Mr. Trump additionally repeatedly recommended that an election employee seen within the surveillance movies “stuffed the packing containers” and “they thought she’d be in jail” — referring to a baseless conspiracy principle promoted on social media.
What Mr. Trump Stated
“There have been no ballot watchers there. There have been no Democrats or Republicans. There was no safety there.”
That is deceptive. Election observers and journalists have been current at State Farm Enviornment when the water leak occurred. They weren’t requested to go away, Ms. Watson mentioned, however merely “left on their very own” after they noticed one team of workers, who had accomplished their process, depart.
What Mr. Trump Stated
“So lifeless folks voted. And I believe the quantity is shut to five,000 folks.”
False. The precise quantity was two, Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, advised the president within the name.
What Mr. Trump Stated
“You had out-of-state voters — they voted in Georgia however they have been from out of state — of 4,925.”
That is deceptive. Ryan Germany, the chief counsel for Mr. Raffensperger’s workplace, refuted this description within the name.
“Everybody we’ve been by way of are folks that lived in Georgia, moved to a unique state, however then moved again to Georgia legitimately,” he mentioned. “They moved again in years in the past. This was not like one thing simply earlier than the election. So there’s one thing about that knowledge that, it’s simply not correct.”
What Mr. Trump Stated
“In Fulton County and different areas — and this may occasionally or will not be true, as a result of this simply got here up this morning — that they’re burning their ballots, that they’re shredding ballots, shredding ballots and eradicating tools. They’re altering the tools on the Dominion machines, and that’s not authorized.”
False. Mr. Trump was seemingly referring to photographs of Fulton County ballots that circulated on social media and posted by a supporter, Patrick Byrne, the previous chief government of Overstock.
The photos confirmed piles of ballots that have been visibly not crammed out and wrapped in plastic. Mr. Byrne characterised the ballots as “counterfeit” and mentioned they have been later shredded.
However these photographs have been merely of emergency backup ballots, said Gabriel Sterling, a Republican official who’s the voting system implementation supervisor in Georgia. State law requires counties to organize further paper ballots in case voting machines can’t be used.
Dominion Voting Techniques, which has been the topic of numerous conspiracy theories and false rumors, didn’t take away any equipment from Fulton County, Mr. Germany advised the president.
What Mr. Trump Stated
“In Detroit, we had 139 p.c of the folks voted. That’s not too good. In Pennsylvania, they’d nicely over 200,000 extra votes than they’d folks voting.”
False. About 51 percent of registered voters and 38 p.c of all the population forged a poll in Detroit.
The determine for Pennsylvania was a reference to defective evaluation carried out by state Republican lawmakers. The evaluation relied on a voter registration database that Pennsylvania’s Division of State said was incomplete as a couple of counties — together with Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties, the 2 largest within the state — had but to totally add their knowledge. The division referred to as the evaluation “apparent misinformation.”
What Mr. Trump Stated
“She bought you to signal a very unconstitutional settlement, which is a disastrous settlement. You’ll be able to’t verify signatures. I can’t think about you’re allowed to do harvesting, I assume, in that settlement.”
False. This was an inaccurate reference to a settlement between Georgia and the Democratic Occasion. Below the March settlement, officers should notify voters whose signatures have been rejected inside three enterprise days and provides them the prospect to right points. It doesn’t bar officers from verifying signatures and doesn’t permit “harvesting,” or amassing and dropping off ballots in bulk.
“Harvesting continues to be unlawful within the state of Georgia. And that settlement settlement didn’t change that one iota,” Mr. Raffensperger mentioned within the name.
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