Roger Aiken

[Acyn @Acyn]

Jonathan Swan says that when President Trump returned to office, he pressured the intelligence community to produce some kind of evidence proving that the 2020 election was stolen, and that Trump’s Thursday night address was the best they could do.

Jonathan Swan: One way of looking at last night is as the culmination of an almost six-year effort. We have some reporting in the book that, in early 2021, Trump was telling people privately that he thought he could be reinstated as president that summer and was being encouraged by some people around him that this was a possibility.

When he came back into power this term, he started to put pretty intense pressure on the intelligence community to come up with some kind of evidence that could prove the 2020 election was stolen.

Last night, one way of looking at it is that this is the best they can do. Essentially, this was their best effort to prove that case. Of course, they didn’t. But that’s the genesis of last night.

[Dustin Volz @dnvolz]

Mullin just parroted an Iranian disinformation operation from 2020.

[Stephen Richer @stephen_richer]

"We assess that vote tabulation systems would be difficult to manipulate on a wide enough scale to compromise election results."

How the documents posted to the White House website undermine president's election speech.

My 1st article on last night's speech. At @thedispatch

More to come.

https://t.co/QVLhq6iCvZ

[Erin Banco @ErinBanco]

Trump’s own IC under Tulsi Gabbard prepared a report breaking down machine flaws. It pointed to some states using outdated systems and a need to make sure the nation was working toward patching — things like running software updates. But the White House sat on it. The report was delivered in October!

[Erin Banco @ErinBanco]

Morning Take: after last night’s speech, it appears the administration has still not found any trace of foreign intervention in machines or any evidence of votes being flipped.

Here’s what’s concerning—

[Vaughn Hillyard @VaughnHillyard]

NEW: John Solomon acknowledges no votes were changed in the 2020, 2022 or 2024 elections. He also, when asked if the 2020 results showing Biden won the presidential election are accurate, said, “I'm researching.” And says no intell that Venezuela tempered with US voting machines.

[Tommy Vietor @TVietor08]

Trump released documents that confirm Russia tried to interfere in the 2020 election to hurt Biden. It says Russia tried to "orchestrate a high-profile corruption scandal" and push narratives about "voter fraud resulting from mail-in balloting"

[Will Sommer @willsommer]

Trump's big document release tonight, supposedly meant to prove China stole the 2020 election, includes this classified intel graphic making clear that Russia was the only country trying to meddle in American voting systems.

[Aidan McLaughlin @aidnmclaughlin]

This omits my favorite piece of evidence that Trump lost in 2020, which is that he hired two different firms to find fraud and both investigated thoroughly only to issue reports concluding he lost. He buried the reports.

[Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports]

In this section of his speech, Trump is lying about the intelligence community's findings about China's actions in the 2020 election.

This is the actual IC finding, declassified in 2021. https://t.co/fuFYST2pem

[Zachary Cohen @ZcohenCNN]

The documents Trump is referring to right now, and CNN has reviewed all of them, largely discuss vulnerabilities that have been known for years and/or are reflected in the 2021 US intel community assessment.

None of the declassified information supports the claim that any previous election results — including the 2020 presidential contest that Trump lost — were manipulated by foreign interference or fraud in a way that would’ve changed the outcome.

[💙🌊 Zero Dark Twenty-Nine 🌊🌊🖋️🧫 @herotimeszero]

Deal Election Deniers,

Right after the 2020 Election, Trump hired two firms to investigate the election. They had one job to do. Find fraud.

Imagine if they found massive fraud. They singlehandedly would’ve saved Trump and the GOP. They would be swimming in fame, power, and money. It would be like winning the lotto.

Needless to say, these firms really, really, really tried to find fraud. They searched and searched and found… Nothing. Zip. Nada.

Dead people weren’t voting. Illegals weren't voting. Chinese Venezuelans weren’t controlling our machines. No one was dumping votes at 3AM. It was a perfectly legal election.

Trump simply got his butt handed to him. The end.

Love,
Reality

P.S. Remember Cyber Ninjas? Trump hired them to audit Arizona’s election results. They did find some tiny discrepancies. In Biden’s favor. So your guy lost by even more than you thought.

[Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter]

Do the activists they assembled know that Fox News got sued for $787 million for spreading election lies these folks championed?

Do they know what their lies did to people?

[Steve Rattner @SteveRattner]

Under Trump, U.S. federal debt has surpassed 100% of GDP for the first time since WWII.

And it's on track to beat that all-time record by 2030.

[Molly Ploofkins @Mollyploofkins]

Five facts about the 2020 presidential election:

1. Joe Biden won decisively — Biden received 306 electoral votes to Donald Trump’s 232. He also won the popular vote by over 7 million votes (81.3 million to 74.2 million). These results were certified by all 50 states and Congress on January 6-7, 2021.

2. No widespread fraud was found — Trump’s own Attorney General William Barr, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and election officials from both parties stated there was no fraud on a scale that could have changed the outcome.

3. Courts rejected the claims — Trump and his allies filed over 60 lawsuits. Nearly all were dismissed or withdrawn, including by Trump-appointed judges. Only a handful of minor procedural wins occurred, none affecting the result.

4. Audits and recounts confirmed Biden’s wins — Multiple hand recounts and audits in Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, and elsewhere slightly narrowed or widened margins but never overturned any state result. Arizona’s “Cyber Ninjas” audit (run by Trump supporters) actually increased Biden’s margin.

5. Fraud occurs but is extremely rare — Studies and Heritage Foundation data show voter fraud cases number in the dozens across millions of votes (e.g., <0.0001% in key states). No evidence showed systematic fraud sufficient to flip even one battleground state.

Conspiracy claims of a “stolen” election lack supporting evidence and were rejected by Republican officials, courts, and audits. The election was the most scrutinized in modern U.S. history.

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

Breaking news: The lining of the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool peeled in at least seven places along seams that were created when the material was applied, indicating likely problems in how it was installed, according to experts and a Post analysis. https://t.co/FemkyQL6Ro

[Aaron Blake @AaronBlake]

The peeling of the reflecting pool was likely caused by improper application, according to an in-depth WaPo study.

This is notable not just because Trump has claimed vandalism, but also because the company that did the work was given a no-bid contract.

https://t.co/IGZJj2Qx9t

[Stephen Richer @stephen_richer]

Reminder:

The tabulators used in Georgia in Nov. 2020.

Were the same tabulators used in Georgia in Nov. 2024.

(and every intervening election)

[Epic Clip Vault @EpicClipVault]

Princess Diana picked being a mother over her royal title

[David Axelrod @davidaxelrod]

.@SenMarkKelly is explains so well why Clayton's reticence about answering the 2020 question is more than a game or theater.