During a campaign stop in Iowa, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the many theories alleging fraud in the 2020 election “did not prove to be true.”
“All those theories that were put out did not prove to be true,” NY Times quoted Mr. DeSantis saying in response to a reporter’s question following a campaign event at a brewery in Northeast Iowa.
Mr. DeSantis also said in comments directed at Democrat-run states, “The way you conduct a good election that people have confidence in, you don’t change the rules in the middle of the game. You don’t ballot harvest. You don’t do Zuckerbucks.”
He added that colluding with agencies like Facebook “to censor things,” like the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop is “unfair” and that the election was not conducted in the way he would want to see it done in the United States of America.
The allegation of stolen votes is a cornerstone of the case that Mr. Trump built after Republican observers in various states reported observing alleged irregularities in election procedures, requesting independent audits of the vote counts.
Allegations of fraud through ballot harvesting were also presented in the Dinesh D'Souza film, “2000 Mules,” which has been cited as evidence for a need to independently audit the 2020 election count.
Prior to the much-suspected announcement of his presidential bid in May, Mr. DeSantis avoided casting aspersions against Mr. Trump, the man he once credited for his first-term victory as Florida’s governor in 2018.
However, the more aggressive response to the reporter’s question at the Iowa campaign event came only one day after a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted Mr. Trump on charges related to his allegations that the 2020 election was stolen from him and his voters, and for the subsequent events that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
During a Twitter Spaces event, Steve Cortes—the former adviser for Mr. Trump who is now a national spokesman for the top super PAC supporting Mr. DeSantis, “Never Back Down”—recently conceded the challenges faced by the Florida governor.
“Right now in national polling, we are way behind, I’ll be the first to admit that,” Mr. Cortes confessed. “I believe in being blunt and honest. It’s an uphill battle but clearly Donald Trump is the runaway frontrunner.”
Classifying Mr. DeSantis as the “clear underdog,” Mr. Cortez admitted, “We’re down double digits, we have work to do.”
Politico reported in July that several of Mr. Trump’s former mega donors—who shifted to team DeSantis—are mulling another switch—this time to back Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.).
Reuters reported on Aug. 4 that Hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow—who donated $20 million to “Never Back Down” in March—issued a warning that he will not give Mr. DeSantis any more money unless he adopts a more moderate tone and can attract new major donors.However, only 51 percent of the 38 percent believe there is enough “solid evidence” to prove that Mr. Biden didn’t win the 2020 election. 56 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning Independents also believe there is enough “solid evidence” to prove that Mr. Biden did not win the White House legitimately.
