Gov Noem Slams ABC Over Claims There's 'No Evidence' of 'Widespread Fraud'
South Dakota's Republican governor defends President Trump, blasts media's push for Biden
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South Dakota's Republican governor, Kristi Noem, has slammed claims from ABC and other anti-Trump networks that there's "no evidence" that "widespread fraud" took place in the elections.
During an interview on ABC News, Gov. Noem denied challenges from host George Stephanopoulos that no evidence of voter fraud has been found that could have impacted the results.
Noem appeared on Stephanopoulos’ program “This Week” on Sunday to discuss the 2020 election among other topics.
Stephanopoulos pushed Noem to defend President Donald Trump’s ongoing refusal to concede the election while legal challenges to the vote canvassing process in battleground states play out in the courts.
The ABC host then questioned Noem about alleged evidence of “widespread fraud.”
"Governor Noem, do you have any evidence that it wasn’t an honest election?” Stephanopoulos asked.
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"Do you have any evidence at all of widespread fraud?” Stephanopoulos continued.
"I’ve spoken with Republican secretaries of state in Georgia, in Arizona; I’ve spoken [with] Republican officials across the country.
"They have come up with zero evidence of widespread fraud.”
The Republican governor denied Stephanopoulos’ assertion, saying that investigators have turned up evidence of voter fraud that deserves further examination and challenge through lawsuits.
“That is not true. That is absolutely not true,” Noem began, pushing back on the host’s claims that there is no evidence of “widespread fraud.”
“People have signed legal documents, affidavits stating that they saw illegal activities, and that is why we need to have this conversation in court.”
Noem went on to provide several specific examples of voter fraud claims worth investigating and litigating through the courts to ensure that nothing irregular happened.
"The New York Times itself said that there were clerical errors.
"If you look at what happened in Michigan, that we had computer glitches that changed Republican votes to Democrat votes.
"You look in Pennsylvania, dead people voted in Pennsylvania,” Noem said.
"So, George, I don’t know how widespread it is.
"I don’t know if it’ll change the outcome of the election, but why is everybody so scared just to have a fair election and find out.”
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In Michigan, the secretary of state has challenged GOP officials’ claims that a glitch switched 6,000 votes to Biden, according to The Daily Wire.
State officials instead say that a clerical error resulted in the erroneous results.
“We gave Al Gore 37 days to run the process before we decided who was going to be president,” Noem said, referencing the 2000 presidential election between former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Al Gore.
“Why would we not afford the 70.6 million Americans that voted for President Trump the same consideration.”
WATCH:
We the People choose our government by consent of the governed. We need to ensure that our elections are fair, honest, and transparent.
— Governor Kristi Noem (@govkristinoem) November 8, 2020
Al Gore got his day in court. President Trump and the 70 million Americans who voted for him should be afforded the same opportunity. pic.twitter.com/ww1KJHJQ2H
Bush on Sunday issued a statement congratulating Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden as the "president-elect," but also reiterated that President Trump has the “right” to pursue litigation over the election regarding instances of alleged voter fraud.
"President Trump has the right to request recounts and pursue legal challenges, and any unresolved issues will be properly adjudicated,” Bush said.
"The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear."
All major media outlets have declared Biden the winner of the election.
The calls are premature, however, as legal challenges brought by the Trump campaign in battleground states key to the outcome of the election work their way through the court system.
