SECONDNEXUS
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Since losing the 2020 election to President-elect Joe Biden, President Donald Trump has refused to concede defeat.
His team has launched an array of baseless lawsuits across multiple state claiming voting irregularities, and members of his administration—particularly Emily Murphy of the General Services Administration—are refusing to sign the necessary paperwork for Biden to begin working with the White House to map out a transition.
Exacerbating this is the President's Twitter account, where Trump has fired off a days-long stream of lies that widespread voter fraud tipped the election to Biden, sowing distrust in the electoral process that's defined the United States since its inception.
In his most absurd claim yet, Trump tweeted that the election software Dominion "deleted" millions of Trump votes and switched 435,000 .
“REPORT: DOMINION DELETED 2.7 MILLION TRUMP VOTES NATIONWIDE. DATA ANALYSIS FINDS 221,000 PENNSYLVANIA VOTES SWITCHED FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP TO BIDEN. 941,000 TRUMP VOTES DELETED. STATES USING DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS SWITCHED 435,000 VOTES FROM TRUMP TO BIDEN." @ChanelRion @OANN
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2020
In reality, five counties in Michigan and Georgia experienced voting software malfunctions. Two of these counties used Dominion, but these problems were due to human errors and didn't affect the votes. This was confirmed by the Michigan Secretary of State and the New York Times.
That didn't stop George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley from trying to spread the false claims to the hosts and millions of viewers of Fox and Friends.
Watch below.
Jonathan Turley falsely claims Dominion voting machines in Michigan switched "thousands" of Trump votes to Biden votes. Dominion machines were only used in one MI county that had problems, all of which were human error, and none of which affected results. https://t.co/qXLuifcfM6 pic.twitter.com/Xz7A6O5Ct9
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) November 13, 2020
Turley said:
"We have had glitches in this. In Michigan, you have thousands of votes that were given to Biden that belonged to Trump."
Turley, who appeared in Trump's defense during the House Judiciary Committee hearings on impeachment last year, went on to say that the human errors should be further investigated and expanded to more Michigan counties.
Co-host Steve Doocy jumped in to correct him.
"I looked into it. With that Dominion software, five counties in Michigan and Georgia had problems, and the Dominion software was used in two of the counties, and in every instance, largely, it was human error ... but the software did not affect the vote counts."
Even the conservative Fox News network wasn't letting the lie go unchecked.
Turley smugly weighing in on something he doesn't understand and a Fox host correcting him. The second part is new. https://t.co/dB7nY7ruoT
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) November 13, 2020
Good on Steve Doocy for jumping in and pointing out that the whole thing is BS https://t.co/U7SMImcXEe
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) November 13, 2020
Gotta be bad for @JonathanTurley when @SteveDoocy is the smart one on @foxandfriends https://t.co/zXPCWopc2Z
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) November 13, 2020
Twitter users far and wide admonished Turley for making such irresponsible claims as a legal expert.
I know we shouldn't expect better from @JonathanTurley, but it's hard to put into words just how irresponsible it is for a constitutional law professor to go on national television and spout conspiracy theories about election integrity that have already been thoroughly debunked. https://t.co/tflxwdFVcD
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) November 13, 2020
It's rare to find one person who is so dumb on so many different topics.
Can you imagine showing up at law school and finding out that this guy is your professor? https://t.co/F5LYu2W1jb
— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) November 13, 2020
he's shameless and irresponsible https://t.co/7JdepYmiHo
— Rick Hasen (@rickhasen) November 13, 2020
We can all stop pretending @JonathanTurley is anything but a second rate Rudy Giuliani now. https://t.co/PMcI7GHrX8
— Jesse Lee (@JesseCharlesLee) November 13, 2020
This isn't about the election anymore. This is about grifting. They are making millions for Trump and the Republican Party with the election defense fund. And they get to walk away with all of the cash when this is over. It's a scam being run against idiot Republican voters. https://t.co/VhCDTUKd9s
— Gregg Housh (@GreggHoush) November 13, 2020
Jonathan Turley is so disgraceful and an embarrassment.
He knows better. He doesn't care. He's willing to lie about the legitimacy of our election so he can stay in the good graces of some prominent Republicans. Disgusting. https://t.co/vi7xDKiBV2
— Miranda Yaver (@mirandayaver) November 13, 2020
The Biden administration will begin governing on January 20th, but claims like Trump and Turley are making could have irrevocable effects on American faith in the electoral process.