Top US Agencies Officially Smash Giuliani’s Election Conspiracy Claims

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a joint statement addressing right-wing claims of foreign interference in the 2020 elections — and found that according to an investigation, there is no evidence that such interference occurred in the ways that were alleged.

DOJ and DHS, in their statement, explained, "The Departments investigated multiple public claims that one or more foreign governments owned, directed, or controlled election infrastructure used in the 2020 federal elections; implemented a scheme to manipulate election infrastructure; or tallied, changed, or otherwise manipulated vote counts. The Departments found that those claims were not credible."

The foreign governments mentioned in the press release include those of China and Iran. As DOJ and DHS note, "The Departments found no evidence that any foreign government-affiliated actor manipulated election results or otherwise compromised the integrity of the 2020 federal elections."

Following the 2020 presidential election, then-President Donald Trump and attorneys who supported him — including Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Jenna Ellis — claimed that Trump had been the victim of widespread voter fraud. But that claim was totally debunked, and according to former DHS cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, the election was quite secure. Trump fired Krebs for debunking his own conspiracy theories.

Powell and other pro-Trump attorneys baselessly claimed that the voting technology of Dominion Voting Systems was used to help Joe Biden steal the 2020 U.S. presidential election, suggesting it had nefarious ties to the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Dominion, debunking Powell's false claims, responded that its voting technology had never even been used in Venezuela, and brought a wave of defamation lawsuits against those falsely making such claims.

Politico reporter Kyle Cheney notes that DOJ and DHS have investigated "Sidney Powell-fueled claims that Venezuela, China and Iran had some sort of control over U.S. election infrastructure" and found no evidence to support such claims.

The DOJ/DHS statement released on Tuesday notes that in 2020, election officials went to great lengths to maintain election security.

"During the 2020 election cycle, federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, non-governmental, and private sector partners nationwide worked together in unprecedented ways to combat foreign interference efforts and support election officials, political organizations, campaigns, and candidates in safeguarding their infrastructure," the DOJ/DHS release states. "The Departments remain committed to continuously strengthening the nation's cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, supply chain risk management, public-private partnerships, and public messaging to enhance the resiliency of our democratic institutions."