In a recent Fox News appearance, Federalist senior editor Mollie Hemingway claimed that in his criticism of election conspiracy theories Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) “said the 2020 election had no problems whatsoever.”

The Federalist @FDRLST

On Sen. Mike Rounds' comments that the 2020 election was "fair," @MZHemingway says "that's a ludicrous thing for anybody to say."

January 11th 2022

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The claim is false.

Hemingway’s claim came after Rounds appeared on ABC’s This Week, where he was asked, “What do you say to all those Republicans, all those veterans who believe the election was stolen, who have bought the falsehoods coming from former President Trump?” Rounds replied: “As a part of our due diligence, we looked at over 60 different accusations made in multiple states. While there were some irregularities, there were none of the irregularities which would have risen to the point where they would have changed the vote outcome in a single state.” 

After Rounds’ response was criticized by former President Donald Trump—who released a statement saying, “I will never endorse this jerk again”—Rounds released a statement in which he noted that “nearly all” Republican senators had “looked at the challenges made by the former president’s lawyers” and concluded that there was “no evidence of widespread fraud that would have altered the results of the election.”

Rounds acknowledged “some irregularities” in the 2020 election and did not say, as Hemingway claimed, “the 2020 election had no problems whatsoever.” 

Hemingway did not respond to a request for comment.

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