Donald Trump Is Damaging U.S. ‘Democracy’ With Voter Fraud Claims, Says Ellen Weintraub
Donald Trump has made repeated and unfounded claims about voter fraud, suggesting that the Democratic Party is engaging in illegal behavior in their battle against Republicans. On Monday morning, he tweeted — without sourcing — that Google manipulated between 2.6 million and 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Although The Inquisitr reported that Google has been under fire for its purported political bias, Trump’s claims remain unproven.
In an appearance on CNN’s New Day, Newsweek reports that Federal Elections Commission Chair Ellen Weintraub— who wrote a letter to the president urging him to stop with his baseless claims — believes that Trump’s statements are damaging to American democracy.
“Facts matter,” she said.”People need to be able to believe what their leaders tell them.”
“There is no evidence of rampant voter fraud in 2016, or really in any previous election,” she said.
“People have studied this. Academics have studied this. Lawyers have studied this. The government has studied this. Democrats have studied this. Republicans have studied this, and no one can find any evidence of rampant voter fraud either historically or particularly in the 2016 election.”
Weintraub claims that Trump’s decision to put out information with no evidence to back it up is “damaging to our democracy,” suggesting that such claims will cause the American people to lose faith in the U.S. democracy and question the validity of election results.
“To be suggesting to people that if the candidate they choose doesn’t win, that it’s because of fraud, that undermines our democracy,” she said.
Trump "damaging" our democracy with baseless voter fraud claims, Federal Election Commission chair warns https://t.co/EbczYuPYwK
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) August 19, 2019
Trump frequently spreads conspiracy theories that suggest he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016 due to voter fraud. Per The Inquisitr, Trump told the crowd at his New Hampshire rally this past week that he would have won the state in 2016 if it wasn’t for voter fraud. In response, Weintraub sent the letter as mentioned earlier to Trump, asking him to provide evidence of voter fraud and accusing him of undermining the trust the American people have in election fairness. She also took a jab at Trump’s past business endeavors.
According to journalist Mehdi Hasan, Trump is making baseless claims about voter fraud to pave the way for disputing the results of the 2020 presidential election in the case that he loses. In an article he wrote for The Intercept, Hasan claims that this plan would not be out of character for Trump, as he could avoid conceding or congratulating his opponent, and instead hold a rally that slams illegal voters and “fake news” media.
