Fact check: False claim that video shows Trump's lawyer revealing evidence of election fraud

Molly Stellino, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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The claim: Video shows Trump’s lawyer revealing evidence that proves Biden’s election was fraudulent

Midterm elections are less than a month away, and more than 300 candidates across the country have questioned or renounced the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election. Claims feeding into the debunked stolen election narrative continue to spread online.

One Oct. 4 Facebook post claims one of former President Donald Trump's lawyers revealed evidence of election fraud in front of Congress.

“Fight Breaks (sic) as Trump's Lawyer Plays Video Revealing Biden's Elect!on Fraud in congress (sic),” reads the caption of the post, which includes an 11-minute long video. The post was shared more than 800 times in two days.

But the claim is baseless. The video included in the post shows Trump’s lawyer David Schoen during the former president's second impeachment trial. Schoen does not reveal any evidence of election fraud in the clip.

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USA TODAY reached out to the user who made the claim for comment.

Schoen does not show video evidence of election fraud

The video attached to the post shows Schoen defending Trump on the Senate floor during the second impeachment inquiry in February 2021. He argues that because Democrats in the past have objected to election results without it being deemed incitement of an insurrection, Trump’s statements about the 2020 election being fraudulent could not be considered such an incitement.

As part of his argument, Schoen shows several clips of liberal politicians, including Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ohio Rep. Joyce Beatty, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, questioning and voicing concern about the legitimacy of various past elections.

One clip shows House Democrats objecting to then-Vice President Joe Biden’s tallying of the electoral votes from the 2016 presidential election. Biden appears visibly frustrated because the written objections were not signed by both a member of the House and a senator, as required by law.

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Another clip shows Rep. Nancy Pelosi in 2005 saying, “there are still legitimate concerns over the integrity of our elections.” The statement was made during a two-hour debate over a challenge by Democrats to the certification of Ohio’s electoral votes in the 2004 presidential election.

None of these clips or any of the others included in the video mention the 2020 election or offer proof that it was illegitimate.

The video ends with an unrelated three-minute clip of Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise in September talking about government spending and inflation. He makes no reference to elections.

Audits, recounts and lawsuits affirm 2020 election results

Abundant evidence confirmed the results of the 2020 presidential election. Audits conducted after the election reaffirmed the results in battleground states such as Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Claims of fraud were also rejected by state and federal judges.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a video shows Trump’s lawyer revealing evidence that proves Biden's 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. The video makes no mention of that election, and instead shows Trump's lawyer defending the former president on the Senate floor.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: No, clip of Trump's lawyer does not prove election fraud