DeSantis says 2020 election fraud theories ‘did not prove to be true’

ALLAMAKEE COUNTY, Iowa (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis said on a campaign event in Iowa that theories about 2020 election fraud did not prove to be true.

“The election is what it is. All those theories that were put out did not prove to be true,” DeSantis said, replying to a question.

“You don’t change the rules in the middle of the game. You don’t ballot harvest. You don’t do Zuckerbucks.”

DeSantis said that federal agencies working with Facebook to censor “thinks like [the] Hunter Biden [laptop story]” was “unfair.”

“It was not an election that was conducted the way I think that we want to, but that’s different than saying Maduro stole votes or something like that,” he added. “Those theories, you know, proved to be unsubstantiated.”

The comments come off the heels of an indictment and arraignment surrounding former President Donald Trump’s efforts in contesting the 2020 election results, along with actions in relation to Jan. 6, 2021.

The case is being led by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

DeSantis was asked about Trump’s 2020 loss in May, around a week before DeSantis officially announced his bid for the presidency.

“Do you acknowledge that Trump lost and there wasn’t all this fraud that he talks about?” the reporter asked DeSantis.

“Well, I look at the last however many election cycles: 2018, we lost the House […] We lost the Senate in 2020, Biden becomes president and has done a huge amount of damage,” he said. “Very unpopular in 2022, and we were supposed to have this big red wave.”

“Other than, like, Florida and Iowa, I didn’t see a red wave across this country,” DeSantis continued. “I think the party has developed a culture of losing. I think that there’s not accountability.”

He pointed to his accomplishments and electoral success in Florida in 2022, winning by nearly 20 points.

“You can sit there and talk about cable news, social media, all these other things that people are fixated on. And for me, it’s like, OK, what’s that true north?” he said. “You obviously got to win otherwise you don’t get a ticket to the dance. But once you do that, how are you going to be able to actually bring about big change to make people’s lives better?”

Trump has maintained he would have become president in January 2021 if not for electoral malpractice.

“Every one of these many Fake Charges filed against me by the Corrupt Biden DOJ could have been filed 2.5 years ago, but they waited and waited until I became dominant in the Polls, and then they filed them all, including locals, right in the middle of my Campaign,” Trump said in response to new charges. “They want anybody but ‘TRUMP.’ Not fair and perhaps, not legal. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!”

“Biden & Garland file bogus cases against me so it becomes difficult for me to campaign. Nothing like this has every happened before,” Trump said in another post. “Must be Unconstitutional? BUT SOMEHOW, WE WILL WIN IT ALL!!!”

The former president could face another indictment in Georgia, also related to the 2020 election.