DeSantis: Trump Election Claims Were False

'All those theories' about fraud didn't pan out, GOP rival says
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 4, 2023 5:25 PM CDT
DeSantis: Trump Election Claims Were False
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to reporters last week in Chariton, Iowa.   (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did not give Donald Trump the kind of fellow-Republican support the former president is looking for after his arraignment Thursday on federal criminal charges. While campaigning in Iowa on Friday, DeSantis made his most direct statement yet about his rival's accusations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, the Washington Post reports. "I've said many times: The election is what it is," DeSantis told reporters. "All those theories that were put out did not prove to be true."

DeSantis didn't mention Trump by name, and he added his own baseless accusations about the election, criticizing its administration and saying unnamed election officials were guilty of "ballot harvesting." The governor specifically reject one of the theories, that Venezuela, now led by President Nicolás Maduro, hacked voting machines, per the New York Times. "It was not an election that was conducted the way I think that we want to, but that's different than saying Maduro stole votes or something like that," DeSantis said. "Those theories, you know, proved to be unsubstantiated."

Before, DeSantis has said Trump shouldn't be charged, and he's called his prosecution politically motivated while avoiding taking a chance on alienating the former president's supporters—even as he solicits their support. DeSantis called the attack on the Capitol "unacceptable" on Jan. 6 but later said the issue was "a dead horse" and an obsession of the media, per the Post. He shifted to criticizing Trump's actions on Jan. 6 but still called the Justice Department biased in its investigation. DeSantis nevertheless hedged his bets on Friday by indicating that he'd pardon Trump if convicted. (More Ron DeSantis 2024 stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X