Trump Uses Meta Letter to Resurrect His Election Fraud Conspiracy

Donald Trump seemed immensely pleased Tuesday after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote to Congress claiming that the Biden administration had pressured him to censor disinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, Zuckerberg wrote that the Biden administration had “repeatedly pressured” Meta to remove “certain Covid-19 content, including humor and satire.”

“I believe that the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote. While Meta’s platform Facebook has been all but taken over by outlandish A.I. content and fake news, Zuckerberg lamented that he had not allowed misinformation endangering public health to run rampant, as well.

“I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction,” he said. “And we are ready to push back if something like this happens again.”

Zuckerberg also wrote that he regretted temporarily “demoting” the 2020 New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop while waiting for fact-checkers to assess the validity of the story. He said the FBI had previously warned Meta about a potential Russian disinformation campaign against the Biden family involving Burisma, a Ukrainian oil company for which Hunter Biden worked.

“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation and we should not have demoted the story,” Zuckerberg wrote. He noted that Meta had changed its protocols and would no longer demote content in the U.S. while waiting for it to be fact-checked—touting how easy he had made it for disinformation to propagate on his sites.

Zuckerberg also tried to distance himself from the $350 million in grants he and his wife had provided for election administrators struggling to adapt to pandemic-era election restrictions in 2020.

“I know that some believe this work benefited one party over the other,” Zuckerberg wrote, even though the FEC had ruled that it did not. “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another—or even appear to be playing a role. So I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle.”

For someone whose stated goal is to be neutral, Zuckerberg’s letter sure made Trump happy.

“This is what everyone’s been waiting for—THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED!” Trump wrote in a jubilant post on Truth Social. Beneath his post, he reshared a post from his lawyer, Alina Habba, who claimed the Biden administration was “gagging our media and censoring America.”

In another post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Zuckerberg admits that the White House pushed to SUPPRESS HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY (& much more!). IN OTHER WORDS, THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED.”

Crucially, Zuckerberg did not claim that the Biden administration had forced him to remove, or even demote the story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Donald Trump’s fans are trying to push the lamest conspiracy yet on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz: They’re now accusing him of faking his dog Scout’s identity.

Right-wing columnist Dustin Grage fueled the controversy with a post on X Monday morning screenshotting two 2022 posts from Walz where he mentions Scout, claiming that Walz referred to two different dogs as Scout.

Several MAGA figures immediately jumped on the manufactured controversy. Podcast Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr., accused Walz of lying.

Senator Eric Schmitt tried to turn Democrats’ “weird” attack line on Republicans against Walz.

But, Grage was soon corrected by X’s Community Notes, which pointed out that the other dog was playing with Scout, and cited the obvious conclusion that “it’s normal to encounter and interact with dogs besides your own at the dog park.” Others on X were quick to mock the lame right-wing attack.

Ever since Walz was named as Kamala Harris’s running mate, the right has struggled to come up with any effective attacks against the Minnesota governor, whether melting down over his son at the Democratic National Convention, calling him “Tampon Tim,” or even attacking his military record. In many cases, right-wing figures have come after Walz only to have their own embarrassments thrown back at them, as was the case with Kristi Noem and the pet dog she shot and killed. As the election nears, they’re simply getting more and more desperate.

J.D. Vance may have gotten himself and some local allies in hot water over a so-called press conference he held outside of the police station in Shelby Township, Michigan.

Earlier this month, Vance looked out over the station’s mostly empty parking lot as he hostilely answered—or refused to answer—questions from the press. The event was billed as remarks, rather than a rally, and he used his time on the podium to push his ironic “stolen valor” attacks against Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz. During the speech, Vance was flanked by police officers and officials showing their support for the candidate.

Last week, the Detroit Metro Times questioned the legality of such an event, alleging that the police department may have broken the Michigan Campaign Finance Act, which forbids the use of public resources to support a political candidate. Any violators could be jailed for 93 days.

Within two days, Shelby Township resident Melissa Arab filed a formal complaint.

“I feel like we can get the attention on it, and if they can spank these police departments right now or put someone in jail for 93 days, it will stop in the rest of the state and country,” Arab told the Metro Times. “You can’t have him doing this across the country.”

Arab explained that she was unnerved by the display at her local police department, and the possible misuse of taxpayer dollars.

“It’s very intimidating to see the police officers lined up behind Trump and Vance,” Arab said. “It’s very scary.”

The Michigan Bureau of Elections has agreed to investigate Arab’s complaint.

Meanwhile, a Donald Trump event held about 45 miles west of Shelby Township, in Howell, Michigan, has run into similar trouble. Trump delivered a low-energy speech from the Livingston County Sheriff’s office’s shiny white garage, standing in front of officers and police SUVs, flanked by large signs that said “Michigan is Trump Country.” The Michigan Bureau of Elections is now reviewing two complaints against the sheriff’s office for allegedly violating state campaign finance law.

In an interview in Tucker Carlson’s fake-log cabin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he’s not simply endorsing Donald Trump, he is a part of the Trump team.

Kennedy announced on Monday that he is officially “working with the campaign,” not only to get Trump elected. “We are working on policy issues together.”

“I’ve been asked to go on to the transition team,” Kennedy added, “to help pick the people who will be running the government” in a potential second Trump term.

As Kennedy announced Friday that he will formally suspend his campaign (but will, confusingly, still appear on the ballot in “non-battleground states”), he appeared to be vying for the position of health secretary on Trump’s team. He even went so far as to coin his own Trumpian phrase, “Make America Healthy Again.”

Trump has already appointed donors Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick as co-chairs of his transition team, as well as his adult sons as honorary chairs. Trump on Monday confirmed the news of RFK Jr.’s appointment to his transition team, alongside another notorious conspiracy theorist, Tulsi Gabbard. The news could be seen as a snub to Project 2025 and other Trump loyalists, who have worked tirelessly to prepare for Trump’s first year in office, especially given Kennedy’s previous comments about the former president.

This story has been updated.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s crusade against supposed voter fraud appears to be targeting the state’s Democrats.

Last week, Paxton’s office announced raids and undercover actions against organizations in Texas it accuses of illegally registering noncitizens to vote. In practice, though, the raids have taken place against members of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest Latino civil rights organization in the U.S., as well as several prominent Democrats in south Texas. 

According to LULAC officials, the group’s members had their cell phones and laptops confiscated by law enforcement officials carrying out search warrants.

“Attorney General Paxton is using his position of authority to harass and intimidate Latino non-profit organizations like LULAC, Latino Leaders and LULAC members,” Juan Proaño, LULAC’s CEO, told CBS News. “It is evident through his pattern of lawsuits, raids, searches, and seizures that he is trying to keep Latinos from voting.”

One of the activists targeted was 87-year-old Lidia Martinez of San Antonio, a LULAC member for more that 35 years who works to expand voter registration for seniors and veterans. Last Tuesday, she said nine officers in tactical gear knocked on her door, presented a warrant, and questioned her for more than three hours. They took her phone, calendar, computer, blank voter registration forms, and her certificate to conduct voter registration.

“This is a free country, this is not Russia,” Martinez said in a press conference denouncing the raid.

Paxton does not appear to have been dissuaded by the backlash to his office’s raids, claiming that there was “sufficient evidence to obtain the search warrants” based on the results of a two-year investigation.

“My office is investigating every credible report we receive regarding potential criminal activity that could compromise the integrity of our elections,” Paxton said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris Administration has intentionally flooded our country with illegal aliens, and without proper safeguards, foreign nationals can illegally influence elections at the local, state, and national level.”

The allegations would carry more weight, except for the fact that Republicans and conservatives have been repeating the claim of noncitizens illegally voting ad nauseam, with little, if any proof. Last week, Fox News presenter Maria Bartiromo repeated an allegation of “massive lines of illegals” for nearly a week on national television, with only a “friend of mine’s wife” as her source. House Speaker Mike Johnson has pledged to take on the nonexistent problem by sponsoring the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, even though the information he’s citing is bogus. Elon Musk has also been taken in by right-wing propaganda on the issue, urging new laws to be passed to tackle something that’s already illegal.

Paxton himself has little, if any, credibility for any of the allegations he makes. He has piggybacked on the right-wing anti-trans panic by calling gender-affirming health care “child abuse.” His raids against Texas Democrats follow punitive measures even against Republican critics. And then there’s the fact that his own party tried to impeach him last year. If anything, Paxton taking up the “Democrats are getting noncitizens to vote” myth gives it even less credibility.