Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Sunday defended his state’s decision to look into 2020 election results in certain counties, a move encouraged by former President Donald Trump – some would argue it will be called for.
Under pressure from Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace to ask if the audit was “a terrible waste of taxpayers’ money,” the Republican governor and Trump ally said the initiative was a worthwhile pursuit.
“There are exams for every aspect of government,” Abbott said. “We have a state auditor, there is a federal auditor for the functioning of government affairs. Companies that are listed on the stock exchange are subject to an annual audit. Why do we test everything in this world, but people raise hands in concern when we test? Elections that are fundamental to our democracy? “
Texas Governor Greg Abbott defended his state’s electoral exam on Sunday, denying it was a waste of money or in response to pressure from former President Donald Trump. In this photo, Abbott (center) is holding a round table discussion in the state capital on May 24, 2018 in Austin, Texas.
Drew Anthony Smith / Getty Images
Abbott denied allegations that pressure from Trump led to the decision to conduct the audit. The former president sent Abbott a letter to Abbott hours before the exam announcement Thursday, saying, “Let’s get to the bottom of the 2020 presidential fraud!”
Abbott claimed Sunday that the exam “actually started months ago because the Texas Secretary of State is required to ensure that we conduct exams in the state of Texas.”
The Texas exam specifically targets the counties of Dallas, Collin, Tarrant, and Harris. Only two of them, Dallas and Harris, voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Trump won Texas with over 600,000 votes.
This week in Texas, various judges including a Republican criticized the exam, some calling it a ploy to keep Trump’s favor.
“This is a weak governor who openly and shamelessly takes orders from a disgraced former president,” said Justice Clay Jenkins, a Dallas County Democrat. “Governor Abbott is wasting taxpayers ‘money trampling the Texans’ freedom of choice in order to appease his puppeteer.”
Judge Glen Whitley, a Republican from Tarrant County, added, “The conspiracy theorists who want to find all of these ways or reasons why this choice was wrong – they might very well find something else [to doubt]. It’s time to move on. “
The announcement of the audit came after the controversial vote recount in Maricopa County, Arizona. The county, which also includes Phoenix, played a key role in making Arizona for Biden last year.
The Arizona audit found that Biden hit Trump a little harder than previously reported. Even so, at a rally in Georgia on Saturday, Trump claimed testing showed he had won.
Newsweek reached out to Abbott’s office regarding this story.
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