Fox News cuts away from Trump team making unproven voter 'fraud' claims
Fox News cut away from a Trump campaign press conference in which an aide to Trump made unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud and illegal voting.
As White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany claimed illegal voting occurred, Fox News host Neil Cavuto preempted the live video feed: "I think we have to be very clear, [McEnany] is charging that the other side is welcoming fraud and welcoming illegal voting."
"Unless she has more details to back that up, I can't in good countenance continue to show you this," Cavuto told viewers.
CNN, MSNBC did not cover the press conference that also featured RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, almost a week after election day.
The press conference announced that Trump's campaign on Monday filed a lawsuit alleging Pennsylvania's mail-in voting system "lacked all of the hallmarks of transparency and verifiability that were present for in-person voters".
The lawsuit filed in the federal court in Pennsylvania seeks an emergency injunction to stop state officials from certifying Joe Biden's victory in the state.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks during a news conference at the Republican National Committee in Washington.Credit:AP
"Voters in Pennsylvania were held to different standards simply based on how they chose to cast their ballot, and we believe this two-tiered election system resulted in potentially fraudulent votes being counted without proper verification or oversight," Matt Morgan, Trump 2020 campaign general counsel, said in a statement.
Trump has lost the election but has so far refused to concede to the winner President-elect Joe Biden, defying US conventions and traditions of smooth transfers of power.
Republican surrogates for Trump resumed their legal fight on Monday to try to stop the vote count in key battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Michigan, but faced long odds given the Electoral College tally and recent court rulings that found no evidence of widespread vote fraud.
Biden has 290 Electoral College votes, compared to Trump's 214, according to AP. The candidate that reaches 270 wins.
While some Republican officials invoked the Trump mantra that only “legal votes” should be counted, others emerged to counter the campaign narrative and urge voters, and perhaps the President, to support the results.
“The process has not failed our country in more than 200 years, and it is not going to fail our country this year,” said Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who won her reelection bid and has congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on his victory.
The top Republican in US Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, said on Monday said that Trump was well within his rights to look into charges of "irregularities" in last week's election but did not offer any evidence of fraud.
"President Trump is 100 per cent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options," McConnell said.
with AP, Reuters