'Fact Check' (CNN): A week of brazen Republican dishonesty

CNN ^ | May 16 | By Daniel Dale and Tara Subramaniam, CNN

[RandFan]

The legitimacy of the election

After meeting with Biden and other congressional leaders on Wednesday, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy claimed that "I don't think anybody is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election. I think that is all over with. We're sitting here with the President today."

Facts First: McCarthy's claim is not even close to true. Many Republicans continue to groundlessly question the legitimacy of the presidential election. One of them is former President Donald Trump -- who issued a Monday statement that falsely alleged the election had been marred by "the greatest Election Fraud in the history of our Country," a Thursday statement that falsely alleged it was a "corrupt, third world election" and a Friday statement that falsely alleged "the election was rigged and stolen."

McCarthy was responding to a question about Rep. Elise Stefanik, who was about to be elevated to a party leadership position. Stefanik herself continues to groundlessly question the election's legitimacy, telling a Washington Examiner interviewer on Monday that there were "election irregularities," "unconstitutional overreach" and a "lack of ballot security."

Who stormed the Capitol

South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman suggested Wednesday, at a House hearing on the insurrection, that we don't know whether it was actually Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol. Reading from a timeline of January 6, which said that "Trump supporters" breached the steps of the Capitol at 2:07 pm, Norman interjected, "I don't know who did a poll that it's Trump supporters."

Facts First: This is nonsense. As CNN's Marshall Cohen noted on Twitter, participants in the insurrection wore Trump gear, flew Trump flags and chanted pro-Trump slogans.

[RandFan]

McCarthy is lying out his ass. He needs to go
***

He is another sell out.. the heir to Boehner and Ryan. Nothing good will come from him as speaker. We need a proper conservative in that seat. Ditto with McConnell in the Senate. It’s so frustrating.

[lasereye]

Stefanik herself continues to groundlessly question the election's legitimacy, telling a Washington Examiner interviewer on Monday that there were "election irregularities," "unconstitutional overreach" and a "lack of ballot security."

Those are indisputably correct. A few off the top of my head are

• The still unexplained shutdowns of the counts after midnight in most of the battleground states where Trump was way ahead at the time, after which Biden gained huge chunks of votes and took the lead or was neck and neck by the time everyone was waking up.
• The huge Biden vote spikes overnight in two states, in which six figure amounts were suddenly added to Biden's totals versus virtually none for Trump.
• Democrat Secretaries of State ordering vote counters not to match signatures on absentee ballots and to accept ballots postmarked after election day, in violation of their own laws.
• Over 30,000 absentee ballots in a heavily pro-Trump county in PA were apparently never received. There has never been any explanation.
• Implausibly high turnout levels in Democrat controlled cities in the battleground states, with no comparable turnout levels in similar cities outside those states.
• Observers witnessed thousands of pristine absentee ballots (virtually all for Biden) being counted in Democrat controlled ballot counting facilities in GA. They were not folded and the ovals were perfectly filled in.
• I'm not sure specifically what Stefanik was referring to about lack of ballot security, but it's understood the drop boxes were ridiculously insecure.
• Individuals in two battleground states signed affidavits that postal workers were ordered to postmark absentee ballots arriving too late to be legally counted with an earlier postmark.
• Data and screen shots appear to showed vote totals going backward at certain points in time on election night, which is impossible under a non-manipulated vote count.

[Republican Wildcat]

Stefanik herself continues to groundlessly question the election's legitimacy, telling a Washington Examiner interviewer on Monday that there were "election irregularities," "unconstitutional overreach" and a "lack of ballot security."

Even assuming for the sake of argument nothing occurred to change what was the ultimate outcome, there is zero doubt what she is quoted as saying here is correct. Nothing "groundless" about it - especially with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declaring it was okay multiple times for their laws to be ignored.

[politicianslie]

CNN had NO issue with the democrats claiming Trumps first election wasn’t legitimate or that GW Bush’s wasn’t against Gore.

1. If the DimWIT is NOT erected, then there's erection interference.

2..If the DimWIT is erected, then the erection was legitimate.

Why do right wing extremists have a problem with these two statements of fact?