Senator Rand Paul and ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday got into a heated discussion about President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election – with the Republican lawmaker claiming there were “two sides” to each story.
The tense interview in “This Week” started with Stephanopoulos asking Paul if he accepts that the election “was not stolen”.
“What I would say is that the debate about whether or not fraud should occur, we have never had a presentation in court where we have actually examined the evidence. Most of the cases were dismissed for lack of legitimacy, which is a procedural way of not really hearing the issue, “replied the Kentucky legislature, adding that he thinks some of the cases can” reach the Supreme Court. “
Paulo went on to question whether people voted twice, or dead people or illegal immigrants voted, saying “we should get to the bottom of this”.
“I have to stop you there. No election is perfect. But there were 86 challenges filed by President Trump and his allies in court, all of which were dismissed. Each state has certified the results, ”said Stephanopoulos.
After some comings and goings between the two men, Stephanopoulos pointed out that ex-attorney general Bill Barr said there was “no evidence of widespread fraud” and asked, “Can’t you just say the words, this election was not stolen? “
“What I would suggest is that if we want more confidence in our elections, and 75 percent of Republicans agree with me, it is that we need to look at electoral integrity and see if we can restore confidence in the elections.” said the senator.
Stephanopoulos countered that the reason 75% of Republicans agree is because they were “fed a big lie” by the president that the election was stolen.
“George, when you make a mistake that people who come from the liberal side like you, you immediately say that everything is a lie instead of saying that there are two sides to everything,” said Paul, adding that the ABC News anchor I was trying to be “absolute” without hearing opinions from the other side.
“But you say it’s all a lie,” said Paul.
“You said something that was not true,” said Stephanopoulos.
“You say that we are all liars. You just say that we are all liars, ”continued Paul.
“I said it was a lie – that the election was stolen,” replied Stephanopoulos.
Paul said he voted to certify the Electoral College vote on January 6 because “it would be wrong for Congress to overturn this”, but he believes the election still needs to be examined.
“And I’m going to work hard to fix this. And I will not be intimidated by people saying, ‘Oh, you are a liar,’ ”he said.
He then blamed the media for painting all Republicans as “liars” and called on Stephanopoulos to interview someone from “the other side”, without inserting himself “into the story to say that we are all liars”.
“Investigations have shown that there is not enough fraud to alter the outcome of this election. This has been certified by all states, ”said Stephanopoulos.
“I accepted state certifications. But that does not mean that I think that there was no fraud and that there were no problems that should be investigated. And that does not mean that the law has not been broken, ”said Paul.