Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday that theories about fraud in the 2020 election “did not prove to be true,” marking his most direct rebuke of former President Trump’s election claims yet.
“All those theories that were put out did not prove to be true,” the Florida governor said at a campaign event in Iowa, according to The New York Times.
“It was not an election that was conducted the way I think that we want to, but that’s different than saying [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro stole votes or something like that,” he added. “Those theories, you know, proved to be unsubstantiated.”
DeSantis has previously dodged questions about the former president’s claims that the 2020 election was “stolen,” declining to say whether he believes Trump lost the race to President Biden.
The Florida governor’s latest response comes one day after Trump was arraigned in Washington on federal charges related to his efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.
However, DeSantis did not shy away from criticizing the Justice Department over the indictment Tuesday, blaming the “weaponization of government” for the newest charges against Trump.
“As President, I will end the weaponization of government, replace the FBI Director, and ensure a single standard of justice for all Americans,” he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the indictment was unsealed.
He also called for reforms “so that Americans have the right to remove cases” to their home districts. Trump claimed ahead of his Thursday arraignment it would be impossible for him to get a fair trial in Washington.
“Washington, D.C., is a ‘swamp’ and it is unfair to have to stand trial before a jury that is reflective of the swamp mentality,” DeSantis said.
FLASHBACK
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in his 2022 book, “Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence,” sharply criticized the former president for not conceding the election:
Tucker Carlson privately distanced himself from Sidney Powell, and even confronted her about election falsehoods. The transcripts were released as part of Dominion’s 1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
In one text message to host Laura Ingraham on November 16, 2020, Carlson mentions that he is planning to talk about Dominion Voting Systems on his show, and references conspiracy theories that Powell had spread about the company.
“The whole thing seems insane to me, and Sidney Powell won’t release the evidence,” Carlson writes.
“Sidney Powell is a bit nuts,” Ingraham responds. “Sorry but she is.”
“She’s making everyone paranoid and crazy, including me,” Carlson responds.
“Sidney Powell is lying,” Carlson wrote in another text to an unknown contact on November 17, 2020. “Fucking bitch.”
That same day, on the 17th, the newly-released texts showed Carlson relaying directly with Powell, challenging her as she claims “more evidence pouring in.”
“You keep telling your viewers that millions of votes were changed by the software. I hope you prove that very soon,” Carlson tells Powell. “You’ve convinced them that Trump will win. If you don’t have conclusive evidence of fraud at that scale, it’s a cruel and reckless thing to keep saying.”
On November 19, 2020, Carlson grilled her on her rigged election claims on his show, and by November 22, 2020, the Trump team had cut ties with Powell.
https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1329961104861224961
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who has repeatedly argued the 2020 election was won through election fraud, has been ordered by a panel of arbitrators to pay $5 million to the winner of a “Prove Mike Wrong Challenge.”
Robert Zeidman, a 63-year-old Trump voter who has decades in software development experience, was the only one who entered the contest, signing a contract agreeing to the rules. When he concluded that the data did not prove voter fraud and had no connection to the 2020 election, he wrote a 15-page report and submitted it to the judges. Lindell’s firm said the report was not up to snuff and refused to pay. Zeidman therefore turned to arbitration.
“The Panel was not asked to decide whether China interfered in the 2020 election. Nor was the Panel asked to decide whether Lindell LLC possessed data that proved such interference, or even whether Lindell LLC had election data in its possession,” wrote the arbitration panel in its decision. “The focus of the decision is on the 11 files provided to Mr. Zeidman in the context of the Contest rules.”
The panel reviewed each file and sided with Zeidman’s analysis.
“Based on the foregoing analysis, Mr. Zeidman performed under the contract,” the arbitrators wrote. “He proved the data Lindell LLC provided, and represented reflected information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data. Failure to pay Mr. Zeidman the $5 million prized was a breach of the contract, entitling him to recover.” The arbitrators directed Lindell’s firm to pay Zeidman in 30 days.
Mike Lindell was duped by Dennis Montgomery
Josh Merritt, a former member of Lindell’s “red team” at the South Dakota event, told Salon that the $3 million was split among a group of Lindell’s “cyber experts.” Most of the money, he said, went toward the purchase of a luxury Florida home for Dennis Montgomery, a discredited former government contractor with a checkered history who has become central to Lindell’s claims of rigged voting machines.
Merritt said that in the “red team room” he heard Lindell and an employee discuss “that being the house that Dennis Montgomery lived in. Lindell had stated many times he had paid Montgomery and others over $3 million, and he had spent a total of over $15 million” on his claims of election fraud.
Serial Con Artist: Dennis Montgomery’s History of Deception:
Montgomery rose to prominence with his Reno-based software company, eTreppid, which landed over $20 million in federal contracts post-9/11. He claimed his software could detect al Qaeda plots and identify terrorists, but the CIA eventually determined the software was fake and ended its association with him.
Montgomery’s former co-workers were telling the FBI agents that he had often changed his software’s test results prior to presentations for government officials.
A fallout with eTreppid co-founder Warren Trepp led to vicious litigation. Montgomery’s former attorney called him a “con man.”
Montgomery’s notoriety spiked during the 2006 Nevada gubernatorial campaign when he accused then-candidate Jim Gibbons of accepting bribes in exchange for securing government contracts. Gibbons was later cleared of wrongdoing.
Montgomery faced a six-count felony indictment in 2010 in Las Vegas for bad checks and obtaining money under false pretenses. The case remains pending more than a decade after the indictment. He also declared bankruptcy after accumulating $1.8 million in gambling debts.
Montgomery became a well-paid informant for Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, claiming to have software that could prove a federal judge in Arpaio’s racial profiling case was colluding with the prosecution. Montgomery separated from Arpaio after his software hustle was exposed, but not before collecting $124,000 from the department’s snitch fund.
