DeSantis rejects Trump’s ‘stolen’ election claims: ‘Of course he lost’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis doubled down on his criticism of GOP 2024 frontrunner Donald Trump over the previous president’s claims the 2020 election was “stolen”, saying flatly that “he misplaced” and “Joe Biden’s the president.”

“Sure or no: Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?” NBC Information correspondent Dasha Burns requested in a clip from an unique interview that aired Sunday.

“Whoever places their hand on the Bible on Jan. 20 each 4 years is the winner,” replied DeSantis, 44, earlier than reiterating his points with the best way the final presidential election was run.

“However respectfully, you didn’t clearly reply that query,” Burns pressed. “And for those who can’t give a ‘sure’ or ‘no’ on whether or not or not he misplaced —”

“No, after all he misplaced,” the Florida governor stated. “Joe Biden’s the president.”

On Friday, DeSantis had known as Trump’s theories of widespread voter fraud “unsubstantiated” and mocked the 77-year-old’s outlandish claims of voting machines being hacked in key states to vary the result.

The Florida governor additionally pointed Burns to election administration grants made by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the proliferation of vote-by-mail, third-party assortment of mail-in ballots and the suppression of The Submit’s bombshell report on first son Hunter Biden’s involvement of his father in his international enterprise offers.

“I feel what individuals within the media and elsewhere, they need to act like in some way this was identical to the right election,” DeSantis stated. “I don’t suppose it was a good-run election … However I additionally suppose Republicans didn’t battle again. You’ve obtained to battle again when that’s taking place.”

Trump was partially accountable for that consequence, the governor added, as a result of $400 million in pandemic-era stimulus went to states to run elections — and due to former White Home Coronavirus Process Pressure member Dr. Anthony Fauci.

“Why did we have now all these mail votes? Due to Trump turned the federal government over to Fauci,” he stated. “They embraced lockdowns. They did the CARES Act, which funded mail-in ballots throughout the nation.”

Florida is certainly one of a number of states that permitted voters to forged mail-in-ballots earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump pleaded not guilty Aug. 3 to a four-count indictment introduced by particular counsel Jack Smith that alleged the previous president tried to hinder the peaceable switch of energy and made “knowingly false” claims concerning the outcomes of the 2020 election that culminated within the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

When requested about DeSantis’ feedback on the 2020 election, the Trump marketing campaign lashed out on the Florida governor.

“Ron DeSantis ought to actually cease being Joe Biden’s largest cheerleader,” spokesman Steven Cheung advised The Submit in an announcement.

The Florida governor emphasised to NBC that the indictment was “probably not about Donald Trump” and accused officers within the US justice system of getting “weaponized” the rule of legislation for electoral benefits.

He has made related remarks about an earlier indictment Smith introduced towards the previous president, which alleged Trump improperly stored labeled nationwide safety paperwork at his Mar-a-Lago property after which lied to federal authorities who requested them again.

However each indictments, DeSantis advised Burns, are a distraction from the failures of Joe Biden’s presidency — and can result in Republican losses in 2024.

“If the election is a referendum on Joe Biden’s insurance policies and the failures that we’ve seen and we’re presenting a optimistic imaginative and prescient for the longer term, we are going to win the presidency and we may have an opportunity to show the nation round,” he stated.

“If, however, the election is just not about Jan. 20, 2025, however Jan. 6, 2021, or what doc was left by the bathroom at Mar-a-Lago, if it’s a referendum on that, we’re going to lose.”

DeSantis has escalated his assaults towards the previous president as his ballot numbers have lagged, regardless of his second-place standing within the Republican major.

Trump is main the sphere of GOP presidential hopefuls with 53.7% assist nationwide, in contrast with 15.7% who assist DeSantis, in response to the RealClearPolitics polling common.

DeSantis additionally pushed again towards criticism of recent historical past curriculum in Florida that Vice President Kamala Harris and even some Republican candidates have claimed wrongly teaches there have been advantages to slavery.

“What slavery was actually about was separating households, about mutilating people and even raping their wives. It was simply devastating,” 2024 GOP presidential hopeful Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) stated in July when requested concerning the Florida curriculum. “So I might hope that each individual in our nation — and positively working for president — would respect that.”

“Don’t take that aspect of Kamala Harris towards the state of Florida. Don’t indulge these lies,” DeSantis responded when requested about Scott’s assaults.

Some “developed abilities despite slavery, not due to slavery,” DeSantis advised Burns when requested concerning the curriculum. “It was them displaying resourcefulness after which utilizing these abilities as soon as slavery ended.”

“We’ve been concerned in schooling, not indoctrination,” he stated. “These requirements weren’t political in any respect. The Legislature didn’t dictate any of that. The governor’s workplace didn’t dictate something of that.”

Dr. William Allen, a member of the working group that created the curriculum and a former chairman of the US Fee on Civil Rights, has additionally hit again on the vice chairman and others for making false claims about the lessons.