Trump spreads Newsmax-fueled conspiracy about Brad Raffensperger's nonexistent brother
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President Trump is back with another far-fetched conspiracy theory about Georgia's election results.
As certified election results and multiple recounts proved, President-elect Joe Biden won the typically red state in the 2020 election. But that hasn't stopped Trump from launching lawsuits and lies aimed at invalidating the election results there, including early Wednesday morning, when he tweeted a provably false claim about the state's Republican secretary of state.
Brad Raffensperger, who runs the state's elections, has faced threats and wild conspiracy theories after refusing to listen to Trump and his allies' attempts to overturn the election results. A commentator on the far-right network Newsmax, Dick Morris, tried to draw up another one Tuesday night, this time claiming Raffensperger's brother worked for the Chinese technology company Huawei. Trump repeated the claim in a Wednesday tweet, implying the alleged relation compromised the secretary of state's election integrity.
Someone named Ron Raffensperger does have a high-level spot at Huawei. But just like thousands of people who share last names in this country, he and the secretary of state aren't brothers.
Trump's continued conspiracy-mongering comes just days before Georgians return to the polls for a runoff election that will determine the balance of power in the Senate. The president and his supporters have tried to undermine confidence in Georgia's election system, with some even encouraging Republicans not to vote in what they're claiming is an insecure election.
Update 11:45 a.m. ET: This article has been updated to clarify that Dick Morris made the claim while appearing as a commentator on Newsmax, and to remove an earlier report that Raffensperger has no brother.
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