‘We Don’t Know They Were Wrong’: Fox’s Maria Bartiromo Defends Trump Pardons by Re-Upping Stolen Election Conspiracy

Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo defended President Donald Trump’s pardoning of allies accused of plotting to overturn the result of the 2020 election by floating that, because of mail-in voting, “we don’t know” if those who received clemency were “wrong” and there was “more investigation” to be done.

Trump granted sweeping pardons on Friday to a slate of longtime allies tied to his failed bid to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and former chief of staff Mark Meadows. The pardons were revealed late Sunday night by the Department of Justice’s pardon attorney, Ed Martin.

On Monday as the host and panel reflected on the news during a Mornings With Maria segment, Fox News contributor Liz Peek said that she welcomed the pardons but maintained that “people like Rudy Giuliani were wrong.”

“You know Maria, I think this comes to a question about free speech, I think these people like Rudy Giuliani who challenged the election were wrong, but it seems to me if you are not allowed to raise questions about the validity of election in your country that is wrong,” she said.

She continued: “And I think a prosecution – persecution I would even say – of Rudy Giuliani, some of these others were wrong, and I am happy to see that Trump has issued these pardons.”

Bartiromo pushed back: “Yeah, well we don’t know if they were wrong, by the way, with all those mail-in ballots.”

“I know, I agree,” Peek said.

“But there is more investigation to be done here and I suspect President Trump has his DOJ doing it,” the host added.

Trump has long protested mail-in voting and argued that counting ballots after an Election Day deadline leaves the result open to potential fraud. He has insisted that expanded absentee voting during the Covid pandemic cost him the presidency in 2020 and, at the time, insisted mail-in ballots were “a whole big scam.”

In August, Trump threatened an executive order to abolish mail-in voting entirely and eliminate what he called “seriously controversial” voting machines.

At a breakfast for congressional Republicans held last week, the president told lawmakers it should pass a ban on mail-in ballots and rules for mandatory voter ID, arguing “mail-in ballots” make a vote “automatically corrupt.”

There is no credible evidence that mail-in ballot fraud changed the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Multiple independent reviews, including investigations by state election officials from both parties, found only isolated cases of improper or fraudulent mail-in ballots.

These incidents numbered in the hundreds nationally—far too few to affect results in key states decided by tens of thousands of votes. More than 60 post-election lawsuits alleging fraud or irregularities were dismissed, largely for lack of evidence. Federal officials, including Trump-appointed Attorney General William Barr, also stated that no widespread fraud capable of altering the outcome was found.

Experts note that mail-in voting is not entirely risk-free, but safeguards such as signature verification, ballot tracking, and bipartisan oversight limit fraud. While some Americans remain distrustful, the data show that mail-in ballot fraud in 2020 was extremely rare and had no plausible path to changing who won.

Watch above via Fox Business.