President Donald Trump’s renewed claims about the 2020 election drew differing responses Friday from a Missouri congressman and the state’s top elections official.
During a Thursday night address, Trump pointed to documents he said support concerns about the 2020 election and election security.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, disputed those claims during an interview with Missourinet. Cleaver said many of the documents cited by Trump originated from investigations conducted during Trump’s first administration.
“Many of those documents were from his first term administration. His attorney general said that there was no fraud in the election. His CIA director at the time said there was no fraud in the election and that China did not become involved,” Cleaver said.
Cleaver also questioned the idea that a presidential election could be stolen without widespread involvement by numerous people across multiple states.
“And most people can’t keep a secret in a grocery store. That’s not likely going to happen. But what I think the president has done is create yet additional reasons to not trust the election,” Cleaver said.
Meanwhile, Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins voiced support for Trump’s call for stronger election security. In a social media post following the president’s speech, Hoskins said his office has helped remove more than 280,000 ineligible voter registrations from Missouri’s voter rolls.
According to Hoskins, those removals included deceased individuals, felons, non-citizens and former Missouri residents. He said the effort is part of ongoing work to maintain accurate voter registration records and strengthen election security in Missouri.
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