Trump tweets Philadelphia has 'rotten history' as city puts Biden on brink of election win
The tweet came an hour after Stuart Varney made the comments on Fox Business
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump suggested that the city of Philadelphia has a “rotten history on elections” in a tweet he wrote Friday morning.
Mr Trump’s tweet was a quote, which he attributed to Fox Business’s Stuart Varney.
“Philadelpiha has got a rotten history on election integrity,” Mr Trump tweeted, with a quote attribution to Mr Varney.
The tweet is yet another attempt by Mr Trump to undermine the legitimacy of the US electoral process by alleging that there is fraud occurring in state-level voting centres.
Mr Trump has provided no evidence to his claims.
According to Media Matters, Mr Varney made the comment at 9:18am on Fox Business.
Less than an hour later, Mr Trump tweeted the quote.
“The president is watching Fox and using its commentary to delegitimize the election,” Matthew Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters, wrote.
Mr Varney is a long-time conservative commentator who has been generally favorable to Mr Trump.
The Fox Business host is not a stranger to controversy.
In 2013, Mr Varney was criticsed for making - and then doubling down - on comments vilifying the poor.
"We hand down $79 billion dollars every January on these so-called poor people," Mr Varney said during an interview.
When asked if he was being mean to poor people, Mr Varney said "I am. I am being mean to poor people. Frankly I am."
Two years earlier Mr Varney was criticised for downplaying the plight of the American poor by championing a Heritage Foundation-produced study suggesting even poor people have common household appliances like refrigerators.
At the time, he claimed that what the poor lacked was the “richness of spirit.”
He was lampooned in the media at the time for being out of touch with the living conditions of the working poor.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments