Giuliani Claims He Has Evidence of ‘National Conspiracy’ to Steal Election, But Can’t Release It Yet

Rudy Giuliani, personal counsel to President Trump, claimed on Thursday that he has evidence of a “national conspiracy” to steal the election for Joe Biden, but can’t release that evidence yet because the judges presiding over the campaign’s lawsuits might object and because his witnesses might face retribution if their names are made public.

During a press conference with Trump campaign lawyers Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, Giuliani claimed that he had uncovered evidence of widespread fraud sufficient to overturn the election results. President Trump has refused to concede the election to Joe Biden, accusing Democrats of stealing the election through voter fraud.

“It began as a national conspiracy,” Giuliani said at the press conference in Washington, D.C. “Honestly, I don’t know what Joe Biden is aware of or not aware of…I don’t know how much he decides, and how much things are decided for him.”

However, while Giuliani claimed he had “at least ten” witnesses ready to describe instances of voter fraud, he couldn’t reveal them publicly because “they don’t want to be harassed.”

While some allegations of voter fraud may be substantiated, the president’s allies have not yet legally contested enough ballots to overturn the election results. In the crucial swing states of Pennsylvania and Michigan, for example, Biden’s lead in the vote count remains greater than the number of contested ballots.

The president’s team alleges that Republican poll watchers in Pennsylvania were not allowed to observe the vote tally, and that Democratic—but not Republican—absentee voters were given the opportunity to correct errors on their ballots. While emails show that voters were given an opportunity to “cure” rejected ballots, in violation of state law, Giuliani did not present evidence that only Biden voters were given that opportunity.

In laying out his case in Michigan, Giuliani falsely claimed the campaign had withdrawn its lawsuit because it was successful in delaying the certification of results in Wayne County, which encompasses Detroit. He cited two Republican members of the Wayne County elections board who initially refused to certify the results due to allegations of fraud only to back track and certify the results on Tuesday. The canvassers then claimed they were bullied into certifying the results by their Democratic colleagues and are now seeking to rescind their votes, though there is no legal recourse for them to reverse the certification.

“This morning we are withdrawing our lawsuit in Michigan as a direct result of achieving the relief we sought: to stop the election in Wayne County from being prematurely certified before residents can be assured that every legal vote has been counted and every illegal vote has not been counted,” Giuliani said in a statement on Thursday morning.

The former New York City mayor also claimed that 100,000 absentee ballots from Wisconsin should have been invalidated because no one applied for them, and read from an affidavit signed by a poll worker who claims she was trained by supervisors to change the date on ballots that were submitted after Election Day so that they would be counted.

“On November 4 2020 I was instructed to improperly predate the absentee ballots when the receipt date was after November 3rd 2020,” said Giuliani, quoting the election worker’s sworn testimony. “We have 100 more of these. I can’t show them to you because they don’t want to be harassed.”

Meanwhile, Georgia voters chose Biden by a slim margin of less than 13,000 votes, which has drawn scrutiny from Republicans. However, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican himself, told National Review that the election was carried out securely.

Nevertheless, Trump allies have continued to float claims of widespread voter fraud. According to the Washington Post’s Robert Costa, members of Giuliani’s team have privately acknowledged they won’t be able to challenge the validity of enough ballots to overturn the results and are instead simply seeking to delay the certification of results in key states to give Republican state legislatures cover to appoint pro-Trump electors. But Michigan’s Republican senate majority leader has ruled out that possibility, telling reporters “elections have consequences.”

Sidney Powell, who is now working for Trump after representing former national security adviser Michael Flynn, alleged that “communist money” was involved in the alleged voter fraud scheme.

Lawyers were uncovering the “massive influence of communist money, through Venezuela, Cuba, China, and the interference with our elections here in the United States,” Powell said.

Additionally, Trump’s team criticized voting machines produced by Dominion, used by roughly 40 percent of U.S. voters. Trump himself has attempted to portray Dominion’s voting machines as “insecure.” At the Thursday press conference, Powell alleged that Dominion and other voting software programs were developed at the order of deceased Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, “to make sure he never lost an election.”

The allegations of possible foreign interference come four years after some Democrats claimed that President Trump stole the 2016 presidential election from Hillary Clinton with the help of Russia.

More from National Review

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• Trump Says Biden ‘Won’ — Then Claims Race ‘Rigged’ and Refuses to Concede