Group of conservatives release letter debunking various Trump 2020 fraud theories

‘20 months too late’ letter outlines responses to various conspiracies

A small group of conservatives have released a report debunking a number of conspiracy theories supported by Donald Trump and his team after the 2020 election in the hopes of convincing the ex-president’s diehard supporters to abandon his false claims of a stolen election.

On Thursday, the group, led by two former US senators, a handful of conservative-leaning judges, and a former chief of staff to ex-House Speaker Paul Ryan, released a more than 70-page report that detailed several conspiracy theories leveled by the Trump campaign in the days and weeks after the 2020 election before addressing why they were false.

Among the claims responded to by the group was the Trump campaign’s bizarre range of theories about Dominion voting machines. One attorney for the campaign famously suggested the machines had been created to help Democrats by Venezuela’s long-dead socialist leader, Hugo Chavez.

“Claims that an election was stolen, or that the outcome resulted from fraud, are deadly serious and should be made only on the basis of real and powerful evidence. If the American people lose trust that our elections are free and fair, we will lose our democracy,” the group warned.

“We urge our fellow conservatives to cease obsessing over the results of the 2020 election, and to focus instead on presenting candidates and ideas that offer a positive vision for overcoming our current difficulties and bringing greater peace, prosperity, and liberty to our nation,” they added.

The effort to analyze individual claims in the report is exhaustive and covers dozens of individual allegations of misdeeds in every state contested by the Trump campaign after election night.

But it’s an open question as to whether Donald Trump’s most convinced supporters will even look at the document or care about its conclusions. Many have insisted that the courts, organisations and state legislatures whose work is cited in the report are inherently corrupt and part of a “deep state” conspiracy to thwart the ex-president.

“This is a good thing 20 months too late,” one Twitter user wrote in response to the report’s publication.

Donald Trump remains under investigation by state officials in Georgia regarding his attempts to overturn the results there, and the January 6 committee has laid out damning evidence of potential misconduct that members have clearly suggested the Justice Department should pursue as well.