Jul 26, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Lemire book: Trump election denial was years in the making

Mike Allen

The versatile Jonathan Lemire — Politico's White House bureau chief and host of MSNBC's "Way Too Early" — is out Tuesday with "The Big Lie," his new book that includes this account of President Trump's disastrous press conference with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018:

Fiona Hill, the senior Russia expert on the National Security Council, who was sitting one row in front of me, later told me that she considered doing something, anything — including faking a heart attack — to disrupt the proceedings and get Trump to stop talking.

Lemire recounts the day the seed of his narrative was planted — way back at a Donald Trump rally on Aug. 1, 2016.

"My lede for the Associated Press, which was on the wire and online within minutes and then printed the next day in newspapers throughout the country and mirrored on websites around the world, was simple and stark":

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested Monday that he fears the general election "is going to be rigged" — an unprecedented assertion by a modern presidential candidate.

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Lemire book: Trump election denial was years in the making

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