Former President Donald Trump slammed Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) for rejecting his unfounded claims about the 2020 presidential election.
“Is he crazy or just stupid? The numbers are conclusive, and the fraudulent and irregular votes are massive,” Trump said in a statement.
He added, “The only reason he did this is because he got my endorsement and easily won his state in 2020, so now he thinks he has time, and those are the only ones, the weak, who will break away. Even though his election will not be coming up for 5 years, I will never endorse this jerk again.”
Concluding his statement, Trump argued, “The Radical Left Democrats and RINOS, like ‘Senator’ Mike Rounds, do not make it easy for our Country to succeed. He is a weak and ineffective leader, and I hereby firmly pledge that he will never receive my Endorsement again!”
During an interview with ABC News, host George Stephanopoulos asked Rounds what he would say to those who still believe the falsehoods coming from the former president.
“As a part of our due diligence, we looked at over 60 different accusations made in multiple states,” Rounds said. “While there were some irregularities, there were none of the irregularities which would have risen to the point where they would have changed the vote outcome in a single state.”
Check out his comments below:
“As a part of our due diligence, we looked at over 60 different accusations made in multiple states…The election was fair, as fair as we've seen. We simply did not win the election, as Republicans, for the presidency,” GOP Sen. Mike Rounds says. https://t.co/ANIQaIEzzo pic.twitter.com/DY2PW2d3qs
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) January 10, 2022
He continued, “The election was fair, as fair as we have seen.”
Rounds told the network Republicans must move forward and focus on what it is going to take to win the presidency.
“If we simply look back and tell our people, ‘Don’t vote because there’s cheating going on,’ then we’re going to put ourselves in a huge disadvantage,” he said.
Rounds added, “So, moving forward, let’s focus on what it takes to win those elections. We can do that.”
In December 2020, former Attorney General Bill Barr said the Department of Justice had “not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.”