How 2020 election denialism became a litmus test for the GOP

William Brangham:

One of the key groups spreading false allegations of a rigged 2020 presidential election recently admitted to a Georgia judge it has no evidence to support its claims.

The group is called True the Vote, and its accusations of widespread voter fraud became the basis for several conspiracies around the 2020 contest. Those debunked claims continue to be repeated by former President Donald Trump and many leading Republicans in the lead-up to this year's election.

Laura Barron-Lopez has been following all of this. And she joins us now.

Hi, Laura.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Hi.

William Brangham:

So, what were these claims and how did they come apart like this?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

True the Vote made repeated unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud in 2020.

Specifically, True the Vote had quite a few key claims, one, that a network of ballot mules paid $10 per ballot to be stuffed into boxes, that they were contacted by an informant who took part in the alleged ballot scheme, that they had a team of — quote — "researchers and investigators" providing evidence of fraud, and that they received 117 hot line calls from Georgia residents about voting irregularities.

Now, the Georgia State Board of Elections filed a lawsuit against the group after they repeatedly tried to get information from them investigating these allegations of voter fraud. True the Vote never handed that over.

So then, finally, a judge ordered True the Vote to respond with any information they may have to support their claims. True the Vote responded in their recent legal filing with the same answer to each request for evidence, saying: "True the Vote has no such documents in its possession, custody or control."

And former President Donald Trump has repeated these concocted claims by True the Vote, not just around 2020, but even to today.

William Brangham:

I mean, such an unbelievable admission to say, we don't have the evidence.

Many of those allegations, though, did become the sort of backbone for a lot of these baseless conspiracy theories. Can you sort of sketch out how that became so integral here?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Yes, Donald Trump 's lies about the 2020 election led to many in his orbit taking on the mantle.

And so True the Vote, founded by Catherine Engelbrecht, peddled conspiracies about election officials and voter fraud in Georgia and beyond. True the Vote's allegations were then picked up and amplified by businessman Mike Lindell and Dinesh D'Souza, a Trump ally who made a film called "2000 Mules" about baseless claims of people traveling to multiple ballot boxes to vote.

Voter fraud allegations were also circulated by Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, attorneys who were co-conspirators in Trump's attempts to overthrow the 2020 election, William.

I spoke to Denver Riggleman, a former Republican congressman from Virginia, who worked on the House's January 6 Committee that investigated the efforts of elections subversion, and he described this as an orchestrated network of lies.

Fmr. Rep. Denver Riggleman (I-VA):

What it comes down to, True the Vote is just part of a massive sort of multiheaded monster of groups that want to monetize lies. There's never been any proof. And it's always the same people, Laura. It's the same people pushing this. It's a massive grift.

And I have said it before, I believe this could have been the largest grift in American history.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

True the Vote, as Denver Riggleman noted, and all of those figures that we highlighted, William, had ample airtime on FOX News to repeat those election lies.

William Brangham:

And, as you were saying, the former president continues to perpetuate those lies and spread them.

How much of this is going to continue to be a part of the former president's campaign?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Since he launched his campaign, William, former President Donald Trump has repeated election lies, saying that a rigged system is persecuting him, and he has made vows to seek retribution.

Donald Trump , Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: The radical left Democrats rigged the presidential election in 2020, and we're not going to allow them to rig the presidential election in 2024.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

You hear there, William, he's again laying the foundation, as he did in 2020, priming his supporters to believe that, if he loses this year, that 2024 will have been rigged.

William Brangham:

So we heard former Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman there pushing back on some of this, but, as you know, he's out in the political wilderness, like Liz Cheney is.

Is perpetuating this election lie now requirement for being in the modern-day GOP?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Well, William, let's check the receipts.

Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, as well as Republican Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, were recently asked if they would have done what then-Vice President Mike Pence did in certifying the 2020 election results.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY):

I would not have done what Mike Pence did. I don't think that was the right approach.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH):

If I had been vice president, I would have told the states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, and so many others that we needed to have multiple slates of electors, and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, a Republican who campaigned against Donald Trump , has also refused to answer that question.

And all three of them, Tim Scott, J.D. Vance, and Elise Stefanik, are potentially on the short list for Trump's vice presidential picks. I spoke to Denver Riggleman about this as well, and he said that election denialism has become a litmus test for the modern GOP under Donald Trump .

Fmr. Rep. Denver Riggleman:

They're pushing the same type of conspiratorial thinking. There's no way that the election was stolen. It's been proven over and over again.

And what they're doing is, they're just allowing the base to drive them where they need to go, so they can win reelection, or have some kind of favor if Trump were to win, to have some kind of favor in his administration.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Another example, William, of this loyalty paying off is that former President Donald Trump is pushing an election denier, Michael Whatley, to be the new chairman of the Republican National Committee. He's also pushing for his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to be a co-chair to the committee.

William Brangham:

I mean, we saw what all of this misinformation and lies did to the country in the last election cycle.

If this keeps up, what do you imagine this means for 2024?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Former Congressman Denver Riggleman told me that he's concerned that voters are continuing to believe this, that when he talks to Republican voters in his rural area of Virginia, that they say that they already think that 2024 is being stolen by Democrats.

Election workers are preparing for potential continued threats of violence against them in preparation for the election this year. And election denialism has become so baked into the GOP, William, but it's also something that Americans are starting to accept as a part of the Republican Party.

According to a poll conducted by CNN, the majority of voters surveyed said they didn't think Donald Trump would concede the 2024 election if he were to lose.

William Brangham:

Really such troubling reporting.

Laura Barron-Lopez, thank you so much.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Thank you.