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In a
press release published Fridaythe former president urged Abbott to add a bill to an ongoing special session of the Texas legislature that would pave the way for reviews of election results by partisan actors.
He also expressed dissatisfaction with a planned state “audit” of four major Texas counties. The review was announced last week by the secretary of state’s office, just hours after Trump began publicly pushing for a review of Texas’ results.
But the state’s review of county election procedures is expected to take place next year, according to the agency’s work summary.
On Friday, Trump demanded “a solid and real forensic audit of the 2020 presidential scam – not a weak, risk-limiting audit that is slowly progressing in the secretary of state’s office.”
Abbott has yet to publicly respond to Trump’s latest request, and officials in Abbott’s office have not immediately responded to CNN’s requests.
Trump’s move is the latest example of his quest to cast doubt on the 2020 results, and it comes as a separate election inquiry advances in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos recently signed subpoenas for the files of local election officials – as Republicans in the state legislature move forward with a Trump-requested review of results in a state which he lost by more than 20,000 votes to President Joe Biden.
There is no evidence that widespread fraud influenced the 2020 election results in Texas, Wisconsin or elsewhere.
In Texas, a state Trump won by more than 5 percentage points, the former president is backing bills that would allow party officials to demand “audits” of the 2020 general election results in their counties. It would also allow candidates and party leaders to demand revision of future elections.
As governor, Abbott has the power to set the agendas for special sessions. He initially called on the current session to focus on other issues, including redistribution, the Covid pandemic and the limits of transgender athlete participation in school sports.
But he added other laws to the original agenda. This week, for example, he called on lawmakers to reinstate tougher penalties for illegal voting. A sweeping election bill that the Texas Legislature approved several weeks ago lowered the maximum penalty to a misdemeanor.
In his statement, Trump thanked GOP State Senator Paul Bettencourt for tabling an election review bill he prefers to the Senate and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a Republican who chairs the Senate, for sending the bill to a key Senate committee.
“Everyone is convinced that Governor Abbott will follow suit,” added Trump. “This will have a big impact on the upcoming elections of 2022 and 2024 in Texas.”
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