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Trump renews baseless claims of election cheating, pairing 2020 lies with fresh threats

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Trump renews baseless claims of election cheating, pairing 2020 lies with fresh threats

With days left in the presidential race, former President Trump has once again questioned U.S. election integrity — pairing long debunked lies about the 2020 election being stolen from him with equally baseless claims of fresh cheating.

In a Friday post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote that there was “rampant Cheating and Skulduggery” in 2020; that he and his allies are watching closely for similar problems in the current race; and that, if he wins, those involved in such “unscrupulous behavior” will be “sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”

Trump’s remarks echoed previous claims he has made without proof that U.S. elections have been corrupted, and drew renewed condemnation from election experts.

“Sadly we have seen this playbook before,” said Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the Voting Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, which is fighting legal challenges to voter access initiatives and protections nationwide.

“Trump is doubling down on setting the groundwork to question and try to overturn the election if it doesn’t go his way,” Lakin said. “His threats of prosecution sound in authoritarianism and should concern all who care about preserving our democratic institutions.”

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Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the Voting Rights Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, said it was important not to repeat Trump’s claims but refute them — because they are not grounded in fact, and they undermine the very system he is criticizing by driving down trust and participation among voters.

“Not only are these lies, but there is every reason to have confidence in the system, and the only way to make the system work is participating in it,” Morales-Doyle said.

He said that while the election system has been tested heavily in recent years — including by Trump and his followers, who have faced criminal charges for trying to subvert the last election — it has shown itself to be “actually quite strong and resilient.”

“Voters should know they can trust our elections, their votes are safe, and we will have results we can trust after Nov. 5,” he said.

Neither the Trump campaign nor the Harris campaign responded to requests for comment Friday. Harris has previously said Trump’s 2020 election denial is disqualifying — proof he is unfit for office.

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Some experts said Trump’s remarks were particularly brazen given it is Trump and his supporters who have been credibly accused of trying to overturn an election, including by storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Special prosecutor Jack Smith is still pursuing a case against Trump for allegedly taking part in a sweeping criminal conspiracy to not just deny the 2020 election of President Biden, but also subvert it.

Trump and his allies went to great lengths to find proof of substantive election fraud or irregularities in 2020 but failed, and state elections officials, independent elections experts and most Americans agree today that Biden’s victory was legitimate.

Trump then “resorted to crimes to try to stay in office,” Smith alleged in a filing last month.

The filing detailed how Trump allegedly conducted a “pressure campaign” targeting Republican leaders, election officials and election workers in states he had lost to change the outcomes there; personally set into motion and monitored a plan to send fake slates of electors to Washington to cast state electoral votes for him instead of Biden, who had won them; and continued his “stream of disinformation” on Jan. 6 by falsely suggesting then-Vice President Mike Pence could unilaterally halt the certification of Biden’s victory.

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In addition to the federal case, Trump also was charged by Georgia prosecutors with trying to subvert the election there.

Trump has called the cases against him bogus, and Smith’s case in particular a “SCAM.”

In his post Friday, Trump advised people to be “aware” that those facing “legal exposure” in his supposed crackdown would include lawyers, political operatives, donors, illegal voters and “corrupt election officials.”

Morales-Doyle said Trump’s warnings were particularly alarming given they were paired with his meritless claims about 2020.

“It is very troubling to hear someone suggest that they would use prosecutorial power that way and go after people for what I have to assume would be political purposes — because we know that all of the statements about fraud in our elections that he is making are false,” he said.

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Morales-Doyle has raised similar concerns about the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, saying it also promotes conservative candidates using the Justice Department to go after political rivals — including those who support voter access measures in liberal jurisdictions.

He called such ideas “appalling.”

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Trump plans to meet with Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado next week

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Trump plans to meet with Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado next week

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President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he plans to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado in Washington next week.

During an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Trump was asked if he intends to meet with Machado after the U.S. struck Venezuela and captured its president, Nicolás Maduro.

“Well, I understand she’s coming in next week sometime, and I look forward to saying hello to her,” Trump said.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado waves a national flag during a protest called by the opposition on the eve of the presidential inauguration, in Caracas on January 9, 2025. (JUAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images)

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This will be Trump’s first meeting with Machado, who the U.S. president stated “doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country” to lead.

According to reports, Trump’s refusal to support Machado was linked to her accepting the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump believed he deserved.

But Trump later told NBC News that while he believed Machado should not have won the award, her acceptance of the prize had “nothing to do with my decision” about the prospect of her leading Venezuela.

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California sues Trump administration over ‘baseless and cruel’ freezing of child-care funds

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California sues Trump administration over ‘baseless and cruel’ freezing of child-care funds

California is suing the Trump administration over its “baseless and cruel” decision to freeze $10 billion in federal funding for child care and family assistance allocated to California and four other Democratic-led states, Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Thursday.

The lawsuit was filed jointly by the five states targeted by the freeze — California, New York, Minnesota, Illinois and Colorado — over the Trump administration’s allegations of widespread fraud within their welfare systems. California alone is facing a loss of about $5 billion in funding, including $1.4 billion for child-care programs.

The lawsuit alleges that the freeze is based on unfounded claims of fraud and infringes on Congress’ spending power as enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This is just the latest example of Trump’s willingness to throw vulnerable children, vulnerable families and seniors under the bus if he thinks it will advance his vendetta against California and Democratic-led states,” Bonta said at a Thursday evening news conference.

The $10-billion funding freeze follows the administration’s decision to freeze $185 million in child-care funds to Minnesota, where federal officials allege that as much as half of the roughly $18 billion paid to 14 state-run programs since 2018 may have been fraudulent. Amid the fallout, Gov. Tim Walz has ordered a third-party audit and announced that he will not seek a third term.

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Bonta said that letters sent by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announcing the freeze Tuesday provided no evidence to back up claims of widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars in California. The freeze applies to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, the Social Services Block Grant program and the Child Care and Development Fund.

“This is funding that California parents count on to get the safe and reliable child care they need so that they can go to work and provide for their families,” he said. “It’s funding that helps families on the brink of homelessness keep roofs over their heads.”

Bonta also raised concerns regarding Health and Human Services’ request that California turn over all documents associated with the state’s implementation of the three programs. This requires the state to share personally identifiable information about program participants, a move Bonta called “deeply concerning and also deeply questionable.”

“The administration doesn’t have the authority to override the established, lawful process our states have already gone through to submit plans and receive approval for these funds,” Bonta said. “It doesn’t have the authority to override the U.S. Constitution and trample Congress’ power of the purse.”

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Manhattan and marked the 53rd suit California had filed against the Trump administration since the president’s inauguration last January. It asks the court to block the funding freeze and the administration’s sweeping demands for documents and data.

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Video: Trump Says ‘Only Time Will Tell’ How Long U.S. Controls Venezuela

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Video: Trump Says ‘Only Time Will Tell’ How Long U.S. Controls Venezuela

new video loaded: Trump Says ‘Only Time Will Tell’ How Long U.S. Controls Venezuela

transcript

transcript

Trump Says ‘Only Time Will Tell’ How Long U.S. Controls Venezuela

President Trump did not say exactly how long the the United states would control Venezuela, but said that it could last years.

“How Long do you think you’ll be running Venezuela?” “Only time will tell. Like three months. six months, a year, longer?” “I would say much longer than that.” “Much longer, and, and —” “We have to rebuild. You have to rebuild the country, and we will rebuild it in a very profitable way. We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil. We’re getting oil prices down, and we’re going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need. I would love to go, yeah. I think at some point, it will be safe.” “What would trigger a decision to send ground troops into Venezuela?” “I wouldn’t want to tell you that because I can’t, I can’t give up information like that to a reporter. As good as you may be, I just can’t talk about that.” “Would you do it if you couldn’t get at the oil? Would you do it —” “If they’re treating us with great respect. As you know, we’re getting along very well with the administration that is there right now.” “Have you spoken to Delcy Rodríguez?” “I don’t want to comment on that, but Marco speaks to her all the time.”

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President Trump did not say exactly how long the the United states would control Venezuela, but said that it could last years.

January 8, 2026

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