Fox News host Bret Baier fact-checks Trump's election fraud claims: 'We will continue to present the facts'
Stephen ProctorTue, July 20, 2021, 12:47 AM·3 min read
On Special Report With Bret Baier Monday, Baier responded to a statement former President Donald Trump released on Friday, in which he singled out Baier, who was anchoring for Fox News when the network called Arizona for President Biden. In the statement, Trump made several baseless claims of election fraud in Arizona, all of which Baier fact-checked.
“The former president points to a third-party audit presented to the Arizona state senate showing 168,000 ballots were printed on illegal paper. An elections official in Maricopa County says it uses paper approved by Dominion Voting Systems, which makes the tabulation equipment,” Baier said, later adding, “Former President Trump says 74,000 mail-in ballots were received that were never mailed. That claim appears to be based on data that does not show the total mail-in vote. It does not reflect the total early vote either, something acknowledged by the third-party audit itself.”
Baier broke down all of Trump’s claims looking for fraud where there was none, including one that would make it appear as though Trump barely won Arizona, a state he lost by 10,457 votes.
“The former president says 11,000 voters were added to the rolls after the election and still voted,” Baier said. “Again, Maricopa County says provisional votes go through a rigorous verification process to ensure validity. They say only eligible voters were added to the rolls.”
Baier then addressed a claim Trump made that was debunked several weeks ago.
“Also, the Trump claim that all access logs to the voting machines were wiped was debunked back in May,” Baier said, “by the Republican chairman of the county Board of Supervisors.”
Trump also claimed that the election server was hacked, which, according to election officials, is not possible, as Baier pointed out.
“Former President Trump claims the election server was hacked during the election,” Baier said. “Maricopa County says its election server is not connected to the internet, and independent auditors found no evidence of a breach there.”
Baier also pointed out that for all of the talk of election fraud, very little has been shown to be valid.
“As we reported last week, there have been a total of 182 potential fraud cases referred to investigators in Arizona,” Baier said, “only four have led to charges.”
This fact-check of Trump’s claims came just two days after Baier had to defend himself and his coverage of the Arizona election audit on Twitter, where one viewer called for him to be fired.
“We, here on Special Report, will continue to monitor the investigation,” Baier said, “the action or lack of action by the Arizona state legislature, and we will continue to present the facts as they stand day to day.”
Special Report With Bret Baier airs weeknights at 6 p.m. on Fox News Channel.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment...-claims-continue-present-facts-054739776.html
