Name: Sen. Rand Paul falsely claims presidential election was 'stolen,' siding with Donald Trump
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Sen. Rand Paul falsely claims presidential election was 'stolen,' siding with Donald Trump

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Louisville Courier JournalView CommentsU.S. Sen. Rand Paul continues to&nbsp;falsely claim&nbsp;— without proof&nbsp;—&nbsp;voter fraud played a role in the election of President-elect Joe Biden. The Kentucky Republican said during a Wednesday congressional hearing&nbsp;the election&nbsp;"in many ways was stolen."Paul made that baseless comment during a meeting of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held&nbsp;in Washington, D.C., two days after the Electoral College met nationwide and versus Trump's 232 electoral votes,&nbsp;based on the certified November election results.&nbsp;The Electoral College's vote Monday affirmed Biden's victory. In light of that, Kentucky's other Republican senator, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Biden as the president-elect on Tuesday.&nbsp;"The Electoral College has spoken," he said that morning.But Paul,&nbsp;who has represented Kentucky in Congress since 2011, still refuses to recognize Biden's defeat of President Donald Trump.&nbsp;Similarly, Trump himself&nbsp;continues to falsely claim, without evidence, the election was compromised by voter fraud. He has lost numerous legal challenges over the election results in court over the past several weeks.&nbsp;Donald Trump to Mitch McConnell:During Wednesday's Senate hearing, Paul suggested a ton of cases challenging the election were rejected by the courts only for "procedural and technical reasons."In actuality, some lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign or its supporters have been dismissed on technical grounds while others were rejected specifically based on the merits of their claims.In November, a federal judge a challenge the Trump campaign filed over Pennsylvania's election results and said in his ruling that "this court has been presented with strained&nbsp;legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations&nbsp;...&nbsp;unsupported by evidence."Paul went on to falsely claim during Wednesday's Senate hearing&nbsp;the election&nbsp;was stolen."The courts have not decided the facts. The courts never looked at the facts. ... they stayed out of it by finding an excuse," he said. "But the fraud happened. The election in many ways was stolen and the only way it'll be fixed is by, in the future, reinforcing the laws."U.S. Attorney General William Barr, a top member of the Trump administration who is and will step down next week, said this month the Justice Department found no evidence of voter fraud "on a scale" that could alter the election's outcome.Darrell West, vice president of governance studies at the&nbsp;Brookings Institution,&nbsp;a longstanding public policy organization with a broad stable of experts on national issues, recently told The Courier Journal that "the evidence is overwhelming that we had a fair and free election."A quick guide:This isn't the first time Paul has baselessly suggested there was significant fraud in the election.Twitter flagged a post Paul recently made online in which he suggested, without evidence, that fraud may have been why Trump lost in a few states. The social media giant added a disclaimer warning people who read the senator's tweet:&nbsp;"This claim about election fraud is disputed."&nbsp;Paul also inaccurately speculated online on Nov. 9 that many absentee ballots may have been cast on behalf of dead people even though there is no evidence that actually happened (Twitter slapped a cautionary disclaimer on that tweet too).University of Kentucky professor and election law expert Josh Douglas has said Paul is "lying" about fraud having been a big problem with mail-in voting.&nbsp;"Let me be 100% clear," Douglas. "Sen. Rand Paul is lying about it. He is lying, and all of these politicians who are claiming massive fraud in mail-in voting are lying because they have zero evidence. It’s just patently false."In early December, after Paul's other tweet about fraud got flagged, Douglas said:&nbsp;"Facts should be the currency of our political discourse, but Senator Paul's wallet is completely empty on this front. ... There's nothing nefarious about counting every valid ballot that arrives by the legal deadline. In fact, that's called democracy."More:Trump weighed in on Paul's false assertion Wednesday that the election was "stolen" in a tweet."TRUE!" the president that afternoon,&nbsp;as he shared a post from another person's Twitter account that referenced Paul's comment during the Senate hearing.Reach reporter Morgan Watkins: 502-582-4502; mwatkins@courierjournal.com; Twitter:&nbsp;@morganwatkins26.&nbsp;View Comments

Louisville Courier JournalView CommentsU.S. Sen. Rand Paul continues to&nbsp;falsely claim&nbsp;— without proof&nbsp;—&nbsp;voter fraud played a role in the election of President-elect Joe Biden. The Kentucky Republican said during a Wednesday congressional hearing&nbsp;the election&nbsp;"in many ways was stolen."Paul made that baseless comment during a meeting of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held&nbsp;in Washington, D.C., two days after the Electoral College met nationwide and versus Trump's 232 electoral votes,&nbsp;based on the certified November...

Sen. Rand Paul falsely claims presidential election was 'stolen,' siding with Donald Trump

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