Ken Cuccinelli Claims not to Recall Trump Calling Election “Rigged”

• Trump official Ken Cuccinelli claims that Donald Trump did not call the 2020 election “rigged.”
• Cuccinelli was appointed by Trump to the Department of Homeland Security. He met with the January 6 committee in 2021.
• According to testimony released Friday, Cuccinelli said that he was not ready to validate the word.

After losing the 2020 election, Donald Trump, a one-term president, used the term “rigged” 24 hours later. three times on TwitterHe posted: “RIGGED EELECTION” “Rigged Corrupt Election!” He continued. He added, “Rigged Election Hoax!” He added for good measure.

But Ken Cuccinelli, who Trump appointed to a position at the Department of Homeland Security — an appointment later determined to be illegal — doesn’t remember all that, or so he claimed in a 2021 interview with investigators for the House committee examining the January 6 insurrection.

Cuccinelli was an integral part of the Trump administration’s election-security efforts while at DHS. He told investigators that he didn’t see any evidence that China, or any other foreign actor, could alter any votes cast in 2020. This was a conspiracy theory. pushed by another Trump officialJeffrey Clark, the former president.

But in his December 2021 testimonyReleased Friday, he stated that he was not familiar with Trump’s efforts to undermine faith in the election.

“Is it fair to say,” an investigator asked, “that seeds of distrust were sown with respect to the 2020 election — after the November 2020 election?”

Cuccinelli replied, “I am not ready to say that,” but added that “outcomes state-by-state or overall were being addressed aggressively by several different perspectives.”

Cuccinelli, who was previously the attorney general for Virginia and a top Trump immigration official claimed to not be familiar with anyone calling the election stolen.

Ask an investigator: “Are there any elected officials who claim that the election was rigged in its immediate aftermath?” [the]November 2020 Election

Cuccinelli stated, “I don’t recall the quote.”

“Do you recall the president making comments along these lines?” The investigator continued.

Cuccinelli was unable to recall. “I recall the president expressing strong concerns along these lines, but you used an exact word, and I’m not prepared to validate that word.”

Trump claimed that the election was rigged after he lost and before any ballots had been cast. In May 2020For example, he claimed that the presidential election would be “the greatest Rigged Election” in history.

Trump claimed a “rigged election” so many times. that, according to an email from Trump aide Dan Scavino — provided to the January 6 panel by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner — the former president wanted to trademark the termIt was less than a week since Joe Biden’s defeat.

Cuccinelli was interviewed by the January 6 investigator. He tried to jog his memory once more.

“You don’t remember the president using the term ‘rigged’?” They were curious.

“No,” Cuccinelli said. “I don’t.”

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