ABC’s Stephanopoulos Nails GOP Senator Pushing Georgia Vote Conspiracy Theory: ‘You’re Just Throwing Out a Claim That Doesn’t Prove’ Anything
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos grilled Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) for spreading debunked conspiracy theory claims and refusing to acknowledge Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
Stephanopoulos hosted Braun on This Week, and he started things off by asking “can you now accept that [Biden] is President-Elect” now that more and more states have certified the election results. Braun responded by referring to the fact that the Electoral College’s ratification won’t happen for another week, then he took issue with those who would “reflexively dismiss” allegations of mass voter fraud (despite the lack of evidence to its existence).
Whether we dismiss it reflexively, whether we would find widespread fraud, there’s a wide gulf in between, and I think that when you just say that there’s nothing there, you’re going to have half of the country uncertain about what just happened and disgruntled going into the future.
Stephanopoulos countered Braun’s assertion by pointing to the numerous post-election audits, the numerous setbacks for Trump’s legal team, and Attorney General Bill Barr’s assessment that the election was not corrupted by mass fraud.
“The process has played out, hasn’t it? And there’s no evidence of widespread fraud,” said the ABC anchor. “Why can’t you accept the results?”
“I think it’s easy to say it’s played out because that might be the most convenient thing to say,” Braun responded. Stephanopoulos had to challenge the senator again shortly after when Braun brought up Team Trump’s debunked claims of wrongdoing in connection with a video of vote counting in a Georgia precinct.
“That was the proper process for counting the ballots,” Stephanopoulos interjected. “There wasn’t anything wrong shown in that video at all. You’re just throwing out a claim that doesn’t prove what you are saying.”
The rest of the interview continued with Stephanopoulos and Braun locking horns over the negative repercussions of using false claims to sow doubt about the integrity of America’s elections.
Watch above, via ABC.
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