(Headline USA) A large majority of Republicans and right-leaning independents say they believe the 2020 presidential election was rigged in favor of President Joe Biden, according to a new CNN poll.
The survey found that 69% of Republicans and Republican-leaners say Biden’s win was not legitimate, up from 63% earlier this year, and up from January of 22 when 67% of Republicans said the same. The highest level of distrust in the election’s results was recorded in the summer of 2021, when 72% of Republicans said they did not believe Biden fairly won.
The news comes after former President Donald Trump was indicted once again — this time for questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election. Special counsel Jack Smith filed four charges against Trump: conspiracy to defraud the United States’ conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against civil rights.
In the indictment, Smith claims Trump knew he lost the election but was “determined to remain in power.” So, Trump “spread lies that there had been outcome-determinative fraud in the election and that he had actually won,” the indictment states.
“These claims were false, and the defendant knew they were false,” but he “repeated and widely disseminated them anyway,” it continues.
Legal experts have pointed out that Smith will need to prove in court beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump really did know that he lost the 2020 election in order to prove malicious intent. However, as the CNN poll proves, the former president and most of his supporters still contest that the election was conducted properly.
“The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes,” Trump’s legal team said in a statement.
“President Trump has always followed the law and the Constitution, with advice from many highly accomplished attorneys. These un-American witch hunts will fail and President Trump will be re-elected to the White House so he can save our Country from the abuse, incompetence, and corruption that is running through the veins of our Country at levels never seen before.”
