There is no evidence of the 'major fraud' Trump claims has befallen the US election
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is under growing pressure to respond to Donald Trump’s false claims that election fraud has been committed.
With millions of ballots still to be counted, Mr Trump said in a speech: “We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election.”
Trump then claimed that there has been “major fraud” and “we’ll be going to the Supreme Court” despite having no evidence of such fraud and despite the fact many votes are still left to be counted.
Trump tweeted: “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!”
In response the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg said: “Trump says he has already won and that there is ‘a fraud’ going on – remember millions of votes have not yet been counted – it is just not credible to make that claim, there is no evidence of such a ‘fraud’ and it is incredible such claims being made from the White House.”
When asked about Trump’s comments in an interview with the BBC, Dominic Raab did everything he could to avoid answering the question.
Mr Raab simply said “it’s a very close election” and he’s “fully confident that the US system, with all its checks and balances will produce a definitive result”, and skirted around the issue of Trump’s false claims.
Certain UK media reports have also demonstrated irresponsible reporting while sharing the news of what Mr Trump has been saying.
On Radio 4 this morning, Nick Robinson said Trump is “talking about the fact that there has been evidence of voter fraud…that the election has been stolen”. ‘Fact’ is the wrong word here when there is no evidence supporting Mr Trump’s claims about election fraud.
American attorney, Hans Von Spakovsky, from the secretly-funded Heritage Foundation also appeared on the BBC this morning stirring up fears about election fraud with no evidence to back up his claims.
A petition has now been set up as a result of Mr Raab’s lack of response to Trump, expressing serious concern that Trump is trying to steal the election and asking Mr Raab to condemn what Trump has done.
“In light of this we, the undersigned, ask the Foreign Secretary to immediately issue a statement condemning Trump’s attempts to cast doubt on the validity of the U.S. election results and urging him to condemn any violence,” the petition says.
“The Foreign Secretary must call for every ballot to be counted until there is a clear winner, using all diplomatic pressure necessary to support a free and fair election.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “The American people have every bit as much right to free and fair elections as citizens in any other country in the world. I found it deeply shocking that the foreign secretary was unable to stand up for that principle.
“Britain has sought to advance democracy around the world throughout our history. Now is not the moment to row back on that commitment. We have to be absolutely clear that we stand with the American people.”
Read more: US socialists in UK to rally against Trump if he attempts to refuse defeat
Lucy Skoulding is a freelance reporter at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter.
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