Trump needs to show specific evidence of election fraud in court, SC’s Graham says
As Republicans file objections to vote counts in key presidential battleground states in an effort to rescue President Donald Trump’s chances of winning a second term, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday that the president must show specific evidence of fraud in his court challenges, but speculated that he anticipates “systematic voting irregularities” will surface.
Graham, who won re-election on Tuesday night over Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison, is a staunch ally of Trump and has announced his campaign would contribute $500,000 to Trump’s legal fund to help pay for election challenges.
“The president should fight hard, because what I believe is that when Stacey Abrams challenged the Georgia results, the liberal media in this country praised her for standing up for democracy,” Graham told reporters during a media call.
He continued: “When a Republican challenges a contest, we’re accused of a undercutting democracy ... We’re on track now with the remaining balance for Trump to actually win Arizona. The case for Georgia — he’s down a couple thousand votes. I think there’s outstanding ballots from the military and provisional ballots that he can come back in Georgia. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada. I think you’re gonna see in the next 48 hours, real evidence of systematic voting irregularities.”
He cited accusation of ballots being backdated in Michigan, as well as the Trump campaign’s effort to look over voter rolls to make sure there weren’t votes from people who are dead, and to find whether people who voted are no longer legal residents of the state they voted in.
“We’ll see what that comes up with. So I think you’re going to see some major irregularities,” Graham said. “Democracy depends upon fair elections. President Trump’s team is going to have the chance to make a case, regarding voting irregularities. They deserve a chance to make that case. I’m going to stand with President Trump.”
“Those are the type of claims that I think would resonate with the public, and that deserve to be aired, and a answers should be given,” Graham added. “General statements are not enough. We’ve got to be specific.”
However, SC Gov. Henry McMaster, and former governors Nikki Haley and Mark Sanford also weighed in on the ongoing vote counts.
McMaster and Haley called for transparency as votes are counted. Sanford called comments by the president to stop the count in some states “reckless.”
Among the states where vote counting continues is Pennsylvania, where former Vice President Joe Biden took the lead Friday morning as more and more mail ballots were counted.
“All I can say is that Philadelphia is not the bastion of free and fair elections,” Graham said. “To say that Philadelphia doesn’t have a history of irregularities in voting is denying the obvious but it is incumbent upon the Trump administration to make specific cases of voter irregularity.”
Graham would not predict a Biden win on Friday but said he is prepared to work with a Biden administration if the former vice president is victorious.
Democrats are expected to keep control of the House, and the balance of power in the Senate is still in doubt.
“I will be a solid vote against a radical agenda, of changing the way America works, trying to do away with the Electoral College, stacking the court. All that stuff is dead and buried. So if we keep the United States Senate, the agenda coming out of the House is dead on arrival in the Senate,” Graham said.
“Having said that, there’s plenty of space to find common ground on infrastructure. All of our roads and bridges and ports need help. There may be some things we can do on immigration. You know you got the dreamers hanging out there. I will be willing to work with the Biden administration, if he wins and I’m not conceding that he will, in ways to make the country stronger.”
With the balance of the Senate remaining yet to be decided, Graham said he’s ready to campaign and send money to Republican candidates in the Georgia run-off elections.
“The fate of the Senate now depends upon Georgia,” Graham said. “I like our chances in the run off so we’ll be sending money over. People were generous to me and I want to thank everybody in the country who contributed to my campaign. We broke records for Republicans, and I will be going to Georgia (if) they ask me to. “
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 2:11 PM.
