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Trump alleges California rigging
President Donald Trump’s Republican allies on Capitol Hill began echoing Trump’s unfounded claims that California’s primary elections are rigged as ballots were still being counted in the Democratic-controlled state.
“In the immediate days after last week’s primary election, the vast community of right-wing bloggers, X users, podcasters and YouTuber influencers trumpeted that California, the state they love to hate, was turning red”
CNN’s Manu Raju reported that critics focused on the slow vote-counting process in California but “have not cited any evidence of fraud.”
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote “3rd World Nation. Rigged Elections,” after the AP called the Los Angeles mayoral race for Nithya Raman to advance to the November election.
NPR reported that California Attorney General Rob Bonta rejected Trump’s claims, saying “What's your evidence for the bold claim you've made? He has none.”
Meet the Press clash
In an interview aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump accused California officials of “cheating,” citing the protracted ballot count.
Kristen Welker asked Trump, “Do you have evidence to support that?” and Trump replied, “All I have to do is look,” before Welker said, “But sir, that’s not evidence.”
The Guardian reported that Trump stormed out after a journalist pushed back on his latest attempt to sow doubt in election results, and described the outburst as part of a pattern of declaring results rigged when they do not go his way.
CalMatters quoted Trump continuing the confrontation by saying, “No, they’re crooked … just like you’re crooked,” and then telling Welker, “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid.”
Legal and political stakes
NPR said Bonta warned that election-related misinformation could increase as midterm elections approach, and he expected more claims even from government officials.
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Bonta said, “The danger is the action that follows the lie,” and told Morning Edition that officials have been “tabletopping, preparing our response, our action for each of those scenarios.”
NPR also reported that Bonta co-leads a multistate lawsuit challenging Trump’s latest elections-related executive order, which Bonta said unlawfully tries to interfere with states’ constitutional authority to run elections by restricting voter eligibility and mail voting.
The Guardian added that pro-democracy watchdog Common Cause’s Omar Noureldin said, “The problem is that we have a president in the Oval Office who continues to lie and sow doubt over elections instead of facing accountability from voters.”
