Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz back Trump's baseless claims of rigged election
Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) supported a number of President Trump's unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud and election corruption on Fox News' "Hannity" on Wednesday night.
Why it matters: A number of Republicans, including top Trump adviser Chris Christie, have rebuked the president for failing to provide evidence for his claims that Democrats are "stealing" the election. Graham and Cruz, two of the most prominent Republicans in the Senate, are sticking by Trump.
Fact check: Both Cruz and Graham claimed that partisan election observers in Philadelphia were being denied access to observe the counting of ballots there, though that was not the Trump campaign's original complaint.
- The campaign complained that its observers could not get close enough to see whether mail-in ballot envelopes had signatures along with eligible voters’ names and addresses, according to AP.
- On Wednesday, a Philadelphia lower court ruled that both Republican and Democratic poll watchers would both be allowed within six feet of ballot-counting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, rather than the previous 20-foot perimeter, according to a CBS affiliate in the city.
The big picture: Graham, who just won re-election Tuesday in what was expected to be one of the most competitive races of his Senate career, told Hannity that "everything should be on the table" when asked whether the Pennsylvania State Legislature should invalidate the delegates that the states’ voters selected.
- He added that he is donating $500,000 to the president's defense team to support Trump's pledge to continue fighting to have ballots thrown out in court.
- Cruz, meanwhile, said that the Justice Department, state legislatures and possibly the Supreme Court could get involved in the election if voting laws are not followed.
Go deeper: Defiant Trump baselessly claims he was cheated as Biden nears victory