Fox host: “There may not be enough evidence for a court system, but there should be enough evidence for state legislators to change their electors”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

From the November 30, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends

WILL CAIN (CO-HOST): I understand why [Chris Krebs former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency] said he believed it was the most secure election in American history. He said that because of the percentage of physical ballots involved in this election. Still, though, in an unprecedented election —

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Paper ballots.

CAIN: Paper ballots — in an unprecedented election in American history, with the highest percentage of mail-in balloting we have ever seen, it's hard to believe this would add up to the most secure in American history. It is absolutely unprecedented, what happened in this election. Now, does that add up to the amount of election fraud to change an election? Does that add up to a court win for the president's legal team? Well, we spoke to Jonathan Turley, Fox News legal analyst, a little bit earlier about what the evidence is amounting to and the potential for a legal win for the Trump team. Listen to this.

…

CAIN: Jonathan was pessimistic on the president's team's success in court. Steve, Ainsley, I think what's happening here is we are quickly moving towards a political case being made — meaning the Trump team is talking to state legislators in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and we know today in Arizona, as well, attempting to make their case. There may not be enough evidence for a court system, but there should be enough evidence for state legislators to change their electors. Will they find more success there? We'll soon find out.

DOOCY: But ultimately, I think the way the president has, you know, his messaging on this, it's very clear, he thinks the election was stolen. And going forward, you know, there are a lot of people who are never going to believe the outcome of the election because the president said, “Look, these numbers don't add up.” His — you know, his case is being presented in various courts, and ultimately it will, you know, they're going to figure out what to do. But nonetheless, what do you think? Do you feel like it was stolen? There are people out there who do. But, at the same time, like Jonathan Turley said, we have got to see the evidence.

From the 60 Minutes interview with Krebs:

Scott Pelley: So back in 2017, as you're looking ahead to the election in 2018 and then ultimately the election in 2020, you have a to-do list. And the to-do list includes what?

Chris Krebs: Paper ballots. Paper ballots give you the ability to audit, to go back and check the tape and make sure that you got the count right. And that's really one of the keys to success for a secure 2020 election. 95% of the ballots cast in the 2020 election had a paper record associated with it. Compared to 2016, about 82%.

Scott Pelley: And with a paper record, you can go back and verify what the machine is saying by physically counting the paper?

Chris Krebs: That gives you the ability to prove that there was no malicious algorithm or hacked software that adjusted the tally of the vote, and just look at what happened in Georgia. Georgia has machines that tabulate the vote. They then held a hand recount and the outcome was consistent with the machine vote.

Scott Pelley: And that tells you what?

Chris Krebs: That tells you that there was no manipulation of the vote on the machine count side. And so that pretty thoroughly, in my opinion, debunks some of these sensational claims out there-- that I've called nonsense and a hoax, that there is some hacking of these election vendors and their software and their systems across the country. It's-- it's just-- it's nonsense.