Trump cites 2020 Muskegon county case involving fake voter applications during primetime address
Trump refers to Muskegon county during address on U.S. elections
During his primetime address, President Donald Trump mentioned a criminal case in Michigan that cites forged voter registration applications in Muskegon County in 2020. At the time of the investigation, the county clerk alerted authorities of the estimated 6,000 applications from a single organization. Michigan State Police, which also investigated the claims, said the registrations were voided and had no impact on the election.
(FOX 2) - President Donald Trump referenced Muskegon County and an effort by a voter registration firm to produce applications during the 2020 election during his primetime address.
Speaking Thursday night, the president said the country's election security fell "catastrophically short" and discussed alleged efforts of foreign interference during the presidential race six years ago when he lost to Joe Biden.
Election and elected officials have continually stated the election results were accurate and that Biden won the state of Michigan, beating Trump by more than 154,000 votes. Trump has continued to falsely claim he won the state's electoral votes.
Trump: ‘It was pay, play, and cheat’
Big picture view:
During his speech, Trump referred to a "set of documents' that contained "significant evidence of fraud" in Michigan.
"In 2020, Michigan State Police raided a Democrat, get out the vote organization, corrupt group in Muskegon, and we're so concerned by what they found. They were just so concerned they couldn't believe it actually that they contacted the FBI in Detroit," he said.
He referred to canvassers that created fake voter registration applications with other people's names or did so using the names of people "who did not exist," adding the people received gift cards in exchange for the fraud.
"In other words, it was pay, play, and cheat," he said.
Trump attacks Michigan Republicans after senate report finds no fraud in 2020 election
The president accused the Republican Chair of the Oversight Committee and the Senate Majority leader of trying to "hide the truth" about the election. The Republican-led investigation found no evidence of fraud.
Zoom out:
The allegations were uncovered by the city official prior to election day in 2020 when the city clerk's office caught hundreds of "irregular" voter registration applications.
A WOODTV story cited Muskegon City Clerk Ann Meisch who said the forms contained information that was not listed in the Michigan Secretary of State's database.
The case was flagged and sent to the county police and prosecutor's office, as well as the Michigan Attorney General's office. The story included a statement from Michigan State Police that said "None of the irregular voter registrations in Muskegon resulted in voters receiving absentee ballots, any resulting registrations have been voided, and there is no expected impact on any election."
Rather than provide evidence of lapses in election security in Michigan, officials told media years later that it was proof the system works. When the voter registration applications were received by the city clerk's office, the were intercepted and referred to law enforcement instead of being added to voter data base.
Nessel: president pushing ‘misinformation campaign’
What they're saying:
The Michigan Attorney General fired back at Trump's address, saying the president had engaged in a "continuous misinformation campaign" in a bid to "strip states of their constitutional right to administer our elections."
"The President has now spent an entire decade trying to convince you that our elections are unsecure and illegitimate. He is now just doing it from the most visible stage in the world: the White House. He once again wants to distract you from his low approval ratings, skyrocketing costs and forever war with Iran by asking you to ignore the fact that he won in 2024 and focus solely on the 2020 election that he still refuses to admit he lost."
The Source: President Donald Trump's speech, previous reporting, WOODTV, and Bridge Magazine were cited for this story.