Early this morning, Bondi appeared on Fox & Friends to spread the Republican gospel of Democratic election-stealing and other Scooby-Doo villain-style capers in Pennsylvania. Although Trump needs about nine times the number of electoral votes that Joe Biden needs to win the election, there's still a road to victory for the president. Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes are on that path, so Trump's campaign has swarmed the state and is casting doubt on the legitimacy of votes there.
Bondi, a Trump campaign adviser, told Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade that she and other members of the campaign were "on the ground" in the state.
"I'm here right now, and we are not going anywhere until they declare that we've won Pennsylvania," Bondi said.
Bondi said the campaign had "evidence of cheating" but didn't elaborate and provided no proof.
Trump campaign vote-count watchers had complained about not being allowed to go inside the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia to observe the ballot-counting process. On Fox & Friends, Bondi claimed the Trump crew was being "suppressed."On Fox & Friends, Pam Bondi warns about "fake ballots" in Pennsylvania. When pressed on it, Bondi just says "there could be" some, and mentions a bunch of stuff that is not "fake ballots." pic.twitter.com/1G1Anlhciw
— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) November 5, 2020
The campaign is suing for vote-count observers to be granted better access to the convention center, and hours after Bondi's Fox interview, a judge agreed to let Trump observers to watch the Philadelphia poll workers up close.
The campaign is also intervening in a U.S. Supreme Court case that addresses whether mail-in ballots received up to three days after the election can be counted. Last month, the Supreme Court decided that Pennsylvania can count mail-in ballots that county election boards receive by 5 p.m. tomorrow, November 6. That includes ballots that don't bear a clear postmark, unless there's evidence that the ballots were mailed after polls closed on Tuesday, November 3.
Still, Bondi claimed on Fox that ballots that arrived on Wednesday, November 4, are illegal and "discount every legal vote that came in."
"So that means the good residents who are all supporting us in Pennsylvania, their votes don't count by these fake ballots that are coming in late," she said.
Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy pushed back, asking Bondi to clarify whether she said "fake ballots."
She wilted a little.
"There could be," Bondi responded. "That's the problem.... We don't know, Steve."
Doocy asked Bondi whether she had any evidence or had heard any stories about illegitimate ballots. Rather than answer the question, Bondi launching into a rant about having heard from unspecified people who said the convention center was putting up "huge trash cans" — seeming to imply that ballots were being thrown away without actually saying so.
She also alluded — again without elaboration — to ballots that had been "found early on." The fact is, like the State of Florida, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has both mail-in voting and in-person early voting. Pennsylvania's early-voting period ended on October 27, so any ballots "found early on" were likely cast prior to Election Day.
Fox and Friends cohost Ainsley Earhardt asked Bondi whether campaign observers had spoken to any ballot counters who reported finding ballots that had been postmarked after November 3.
Bondi shook her head no, then said, "You know, we talked about that last night. There are good people working in that room. We don't want them to lose their jobs for coming forward and talking to us. So, that we don't know."
