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Fox chooses to air Trump’s false election claims again despite $787m Dominion payout

Mr Trump echoes familiar false election claims on Fox regarding early voting

Kelly Rissman
Wednesday 19 July 2023 20:42 BST
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Trump says he will encourage early voting but still says the ballots will 'get lost'

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Months after Fox settled with Dominion Voting Systems for a whopping $787m over false election claims, the network chose to air a portion of a pre-taped town hall with former President Donald Trump where he made false election claims.

Mr Hannity asked Mr Trump at a Fox town hall in Iowa whether he now embraced “early voting, vote by mail, and legal ballot harvesting?”

“I do, but I also have to say something else…They also create phony ballots and that’s a real problem. That’s my opinion – a lot of phony ballots,” Mr Trump replied, receiving a round of applause from the audience.

The Fox News host again asked if the 2024 GOP frontrunner will encourage early voting and vote by mail with the current system, adding “I think if you don’t, it’s a big mistake.”

Mr Trump said he “will” encourage early voting but warned, “those ballots get lost also, Sean. You know, they send them in and all of a sudden, they’re gone. Those ballots get lost also.”

“The answer is, I will, because you like it,” he continued. “But you know what? Can I be honest? A lot of bad things happen to those ballots also. They’re sent in early and all of a sudden, where are they?”

Since the interview was pre-recorded rather than live, the network could have chosen to edit out the exchange.

After losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, Mr Trump claimed the election was “stolen” and alleged voters “cheat” when voting by mail.

Mr Trump recently announced that he was a “target” of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe into 2020 election interference.

The Independent has reached out to Fox for comment.

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