In an incoherent chat with Fox’s Maria Bartiromo, Trump baselessly suggested the FBI and the Department of Justice were “involved” with a “rigged” election against him.
WASHINGTON D.C. (Times Media Mexico) – Donald Trump engaged in what could best be described as a lengthy diatribe regarding the elections to Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. During his first post-election television interview, once again baselessly suggested the FBI and the Department of Justice were “involved” with a “rigged” election against him.
Since losing the election to former Vice-president, Joe Biden Trump has been inside the White House tweeting unhinged conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud while his “elite strike force” legal team has had its attempts to overthrow the election by the courts.
Much of Trump’s focus was on the unfounded claim that Dominion Voting Systems—which was used in some key swing states and counties—had used corrupt software to flip millions of Trump votes to Biden.
“We have affidavits from many people talking about what went on with the machines they had glitches,” Trump said claiming they had already “caught” the machines moving thousands of votes from “my account to Biden’s account.”
Trump also took issue with large cities and counties in “Rust Belt” states voting heavily for Biden via mail-in ballots, and “the huge tranches” of Biden votes that were reported late on Election Night and later in the week.
“This election was over and then they did dumps, they call them dumps, big massive dumps in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and all over,” he exclaimed. “If you take a look at you just take a look at just about every state that we’re talking about every swing state that we’re talking about, and they did these massive dumps of votes and all of a sudden, I went from winning by a lot to losing by a little, and in some cases, it took a period of time to do it.”
Throughout the segment, Trump repeatedly said: “Joe Biden did not get 16 million more votes than Barack Hussein Obama” due to a grand conspiracy to destroy him.
Trump’s legal “dream team” has suffered a series of humiliating defeats as their Pennsylvania appeal was denied by an all-Republican federal judge panel, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected a Republican lawsuit to declare mail-in ballots unconstitutional.
Multiple criticisms
Maria Bartiromo (ckick for video) is facing multiple criticisms from her peers for not challenging Trump on his unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud. CNN contributor Amanda Carpenter tweeted. “Maria Bartiromo is not interviewing the President (right now). She is providing him a free platform to feed his base talking points uncontested. … This is propaganda.”
https://twitter.com/amandacarpenter/status/1333070258958110722
Also, USA TODAY reached out to Fox News for comment. There was none.
In the 46-minute phone interview, Trump continued to protest the election but provided no proof – and would not say when he might drop election lawsuits and challenges that have met nothing but defeat.
Bartiromo began their call by asking Trump to back up his claims of election fraud. A steady stream of judges and election officials across the country, including Republicans, have declared the elections fairly run and criticized Trump’s legal team for filing specious complaints. “Mr. President, you’ve said many times that this election was rigged, that there was much fraud, and the facts are on your side,” she said. “Let’s start there. Please go through the facts. Characterize what took place.”
As of that moment, Trump repeated over and over again the claims of an “election that was rigged,” and told Bartiromo his complaints might last past the Dec. 14 vote of the Electoral College and even the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. “My mind will not change in six months,” he said.
Bartiromo asked Trump to provide evidence “to enable you to prove this in court,” some analysts took issue with her not calling him on already-disputed claims. Judges have shot down lawsuits and election challenges in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and Georgia, citing a lack of “specific allegations and then proof.”
CNN Reliable Sources anchor Brian Stelter said on air Sunday morning: “This was not hardball. It wasn’t even softball. It was t-ball,” CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy called Bartiromo a “propagandist,” likening her to conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones.
New York Magazine and HuffPost, contributor Journalist Yashar Ali, a contributor said on Twitter that the interview was “filled with so many lies and so much misinformation. Probably more than any interview during his presidency.”
. @mariabartiromo’s interview with the president is filled with so many lies and so much misinformation. Probably more than any interview during his presidency.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 29, 2020
And Maria has let him go unchecked on America’s number one cable network.
It’s practically a monologue.
“Trump is lying about the election on Fox Business and Maria Bartiromo is letting him lie,” wrote MSNBC senior producer Kyle Griffin.
Trump is lying about the election on Fox Business and Maria Bartiromo is letting him lie.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 29, 2020
“Maria Bartiromo went from being the first journalist to broadcast live from the floor of the New York Stock exchange to one of the last notable TV hosts still indulging Trump in his conspiracy theories to overturn the election,” wrote Business Insider politics reporter Jake Lahut.
Maria Bartiromo went from being the first journalist to broadcast live from the floor of the New York Stock exchange to one of the last notable TV hosts still indulging Trump in his conspiracy theories to overturn the election.
— Jake Lahut (@JakeLahut) November 29, 2020
