NATIONAL NEWS

FACT FOCUS: Trump, in Republican convention video, alludes to false claim 2020 election was stolen

Jul 17, 2024, 9:23 PM

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives on third day of the Republi...

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump arrives on third day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

DONALD TRUMP, alluding that the 2020 vote was stolen: “Whether you vote early, absentee, by mail or in person, we are going to protect the vote. That’s the most important thing we have to do is protect the vote. Keep your eyes open because these people want to cheat and they do cheat. And frankly, it’s the only thing they do well.”

THE FACTS: In a prerecorded video at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump referenced baseless claims he made repeatedly after he lost the 2020 presidential race — that the election was “rigged” and that Democrats cheated to put President Joe Biden in the White House.

The election was not stolen.

Biden earned 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, the same margin that Trump had when he beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, which he repeatedly described as a “landslide.” (Trump ended up with 304 electoral votes because two electors defected.) Biden achieved victory by prevailing in key states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia.

Trump’s allegations of massive voting fraud have been refuted by a variety of judges, state election officials and an arm of his own administration’s Homeland Security Department.

In 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr told the AP that no proof of widespread voter fraud had been uncovered. “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” he said at the time.

___

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

National News

Associated Press

Larry Hobbs, who guided AP’s coverage of Florida news for decades, has died at 83

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Robert Larry Hobbs, an Associated Press editor who guided coverage of Florida news for more than three decades with unflappable calm and gentle counsel, has died. He was 83. Hobbs, who went by “Larry,” died Tuesday night in his sleep of natural causes at a hospital in Miami, said his nephew, […]

26 minutes ago

FILE - A selection of Sig Sauer pistols are displayed at the Kittery Trading Post, Aug. 9, 2024, in...

Associated Press

Gun groups sue to overturn Maine’s new three-day waiting period to buy firearms

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A coalition of gun groups has filed a lawsuit claiming that Maine’s new 72-hour waiting period for firearms purchases is unconstitutional and seeking an injunction stopping its enforcement pending the outcome of the case. The lawsuit filed on behalf of five individuals contends that it’s illegal to require someone who passed […]

29 minutes ago

FILE - The Supreme Court building is seen, June 28, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbei...

Associated Press

Supreme Court seems likely to allow class action to proceed against tech company Nvidia

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed likely to keep alive a class-action lawsuit accusing Nvidia of misleading investors about its dependence on selling computer chips for the mining of volatile cryptocurrency. The justices heard arguments in the tech company’s appeal of a lower-court ruling allowing a 2018 suit led by a Swedish […]

30 minutes ago

Associated Press

Massive dust storm reduces visibility, causes vehicle pileup on central California highway

CHOWCHILLA, Calif. (AP) — A powerful dust storm known as a haboob caused a vehicle pile-up on a central California highway, sending several people to hospitals with minor injuries, authorities said. An enormous rolling cloud of dust reduced visibility Monday afternoon on State Route 152 in Madera County, causing motorists to crash into one another, […]

47 minutes ago

President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, ...

Associated Press

Biden and Xi will meet in Peru as US-China relations tested again by Trump’s return

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will hold talks Saturday with China’s Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an international summit in Peru, a face-to-face meeting that comes as Beijing braces for Donald Trump’s return to the White House. A senior Biden administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal […]

49 minutes ago

FILE - This mobile phone app screen shot shows the logo for Dogecoin, in New York, April 20, 2021. ...

Associated Press

Bull doge! Dogecoin soars as Trump announces a government efficiency group nicknamed DOGE

NEW YORK (AP) — Wow, much bull market. Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency whose mascot is a super-cute dog that muses things like “much wow,” has been surging in value since Donald Trump won the presidential election last week. It’s hitting the afterburners now, after Trump named Tesla’s Elon Musk as one of the heads of a […]

1 hour ago

FACT FOCUS: Trump, in Republican convention video, alludes to false claim 2020 election was stolen