{"id":353350,"date":"2026-06-09T17:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/353350\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T17:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T17:15:10","slug":"californias-attorney-general-refutes-trumps-baseless-claim-of-election-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/353350\/","title":{"rendered":"California’s attorney general refutes Trump’s baseless claim of election fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks at the California Democratic Party State Convention in San Francisco on Feb. 21. Image: Jeff Chiu\/AP<\/p>\n

California’s attorney general refutes Trump’s baseless claim of election fraud<\/p>\n

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is rejecting President Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the state’s primary elections, where ballots are still being counted.<\/p>\n

“Truly embarrassing, unhinged, wild-eyed, dangerous, reckless, desperate,” Bonta said when asked about the president’s comments<\/a>. “What’s your evidence for the bold claim you’ve made? He has none.”<\/p>\n

With midterm elections approaching, Bonta told Morning Edition he expects more election-related misinformation, including from government officials.<\/p>\n

Listen to the full conversation by clicking the play button in the blue box above, and read highlights from the conversation below.<\/p>\n

Officials are preparing for more election claims<\/p>\n

Bonta reacted to a recent announcement from Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, who said on X<\/a> that his office is conducting multiple election fraud investigations.<\/p>\n

“Every count, recount, hand count, audit and court case has demonstrated there is no widespread voter fraud,” Bonta said. “It is very unfortunate that we’re in a place now where people disregard inconvenient facts, manufacture their own facts.”<\/p>\n

He points to misinformation spread by reality TV personality Spencer Pratt, who is running for mayor of Los Angeles. City council member Nithya Raman surpassed Pratt on Monday<\/a> and will face incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in November.<\/p>\n

“He’s suggesting that some of the votes that went to his opponent \u2026 belong to homeless individuals,” Bonta said. “So misinformation and disinformation abounds. It’s irresponsible and dangerous, especially for those who propagate it knowingly or without doing some critical thinking of their own.”<\/p>\n

Transparency and public trust<\/p>\n

Some of the doubt around elections, Bonta said, comes from a lack of understanding about how votes are counted and why results can take time, especially in California, where final tallies do not come the next day.<\/p>\n

Mail-in ballots take longer to process than in-person ballots, because officials must scan bar codes, remove envelopes and check signatures against those on file. In California, around a quarter of the electorate returns their ballots on Election Day, which means officials don’t start processing millions of votes until then.<\/p>\n

“In LA County, the registrar of voters is completely transparent. You can go online right now and look at the livestream of the vote counting. You can go visit the registrar of voters as they’re counting ballots to take a look around. The light of day is shining bright on the operations of the vote counting in LA County,” Bonta said.<\/p>\n

“But some don’t want to understand,” he continued. “And Trump has basically taken the position that if he wins or the person that he supports wins, the election was fair. If he lost or the person he supported lost, it was rigged. And that’s just not right.”<\/p>\n

‘The danger is the action that follows the lie<\/p>\n

Bonta says the best strategy for state officials to counter false claims is simply confronting them.<\/p>\n

“The best counter to misinformation and disinformation is calling it out, confronting it, providing the facts that show that it’s demonstrably false,” he said. “So I immediately went to my own platforms to share how Trump is lying. The facts rebut everything and contradict everything that he said, and it’s important that he be called out for it, because it’s wrong and it’s not true.”<\/p>\n

“I’m worried about what he might do. Will he deploy the military? Will he deploy ICE to the polls? Will he interfere with the U.S. Postal Service in the November election, and the vote-by-mail ballots that move through the U.S. Postal Service?” he said.<\/p>\n

“All those things are possible, and they rest on this lie, this fabrication that there’s widespread voter fraud,” Bonta added.<\/p>\n

“So, the danger is the action that follows the lie,” he added. “And we’re prepared. We’ve been tabletopping, preparing our response, our action for each of those scenarios.”<\/p>\n

A new legal fight over Trump’s election order<\/p>\n

Bonta’s warnings come as he co-leads a multistate lawsuit <\/a>challenging Trump’s latest elections-related executive order, which he says unlawfully tries to interfere with states’ constitutional authority to run elections by restricting voter eligibility and mail voting to federally preapproved lists.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, filed with a coalition of more than 20 other attorneys general and Pennsylvania’s governor, asks a federal court to block key provisions of the order, which they say would force states to rapidly overhaul election procedures and create confusion and chaos.<\/p>\n

White House responds but offers no evidence<\/p>\n

NPR reached out to the White House, asking for evidence of the president’s claims of voter fraud in California’s primary.<\/p>\n

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson wrote back that “countless Americans share the same concerns as President Trump” and added the president is pushing for legislation that would establish “a uniform photo ID requirement for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting and end the practice of ballot harvesting.”<\/p>\n

The response did not include specific evidence to support the president’s allegation of voter fraud in California’s primary.<\/p>\n

Audio transcript<\/p>\n

LEILA FADEL, HOST: <\/p>\n

After the president’s allegations of voter fraud in California, where ballots are still being counted, we called up California Attorney General Rob Bonta.<\/p>\n

What do you make of the president’s comments?<\/p>\n

ROB BONTA: Truly embarrassing. Unhinged, wild-eyed, dangerous, reckless, desperate. And a simple question about what’s your evidence for the bold claim you’ve made? He has none.<\/p>\n

FADEL: With the midterm elections coming up, Bonta is gearing up for more election-related disinformation, some of which is coming from other government officials. Bill Essayli, LA’s top federal prosecutor, announced on X that his office is conducting multiple electoral fraud investigations. What’s your reaction to that?<\/p>\n

BONTA: My reaction is every count, recount, hand count, audit and court case has demonstrated there is no widespread voter fraud. It is very unfortunate that we’re in a place now where people disregard inconvenient facts, manufacture their own facts. You know, the candidate running for mayor who just got surpassed by another candidate, Mr. Pratt…<\/p>\n

FADEL: You’re referring to Spencer Pratt, who’s running for mayor and has just been surpassed for that second spot.<\/p>\n

BONTA: Yes. He’s suggesting that some of the votes that went to his opponent who surpassed him belong to homeless individuals. So misinformation and disinformation abounds. It’s irresponsible and dangerous, especially for those who propagate it knowingly or without doing some critical thinking of their own.<\/p>\n

FADEL: What are you and other state officials doing to counter this misinformation, disinformation?<\/p>\n

BONTA: The best counter to misinformation and disinformation is calling it out, confronting it, providing the facts that show that it’s demonstrably false. So I immediately went to my own platforms to share how Trump is lying. The facts rebut everything and contradict everything that he said. And it’s important that he be called out for it because it’s wrong and it’s not true. I’m worried about what he might do.<\/p>\n

Will he deploy the military? Will he deploy ICE to the polls? Will he interfere with the U.S. Postal Service in the November election and the vote-by-mail ballots that move through the U.S. Postal Service? All those things are possible. And they rest on this lie, this fabrication that there’s widespread voter fraud. So the danger is the action that follows the lie. And we’re prepared. We’ve been tabletopping, preparing our response, our action for each of those scenarios.<\/p>\n

FADEL: Well, how much of this stems from just a lack of understanding of the election process, how votes are counted, why it sometimes takes a long time? I mean, in California, you don’t get the results the next day, right? I mean, have state officials maybe relied too much on the idea that voters should just trust the process, instead of pulling back the curtain and explaining more often how it all works, especially given the polling that shows how many Americans don’t have trust in the process?<\/p>\n

BONTA: I think there is a degree of not full understanding of how the process works. And I think a good antidote to that is transparency, openness. And here, the LA County Registrar of Voters is completely transparent. You can go online right now and look at the livestream of the vote counting. You can go visit the Registrar of Voters as they’re counting ballots to take a look around.<\/p>\n

The light of day is shining bright on the operations of the vote counting in LA County. But some don’t want to understand. And Trump has basically taken the position that if he wins, or the person that he supports wins, the election was fair. If he lost, or the person he supported lost, it was rigged. And that’s just not right. And that’s dangerous. And it’s unbecoming of a president of the United States.<\/p>\n

FADEL: Attorney General of California Rob Bonta, thank you so much for your time.<\/p>\n

BONTA: Thank you so much for yours. Thanks for having me.<\/p>\n

(SOUNDBITE OF SAM GENDEL AND SAM WILKES’ “RAPMAN”)<\/p>\n

FADEL: NPR reached out to the White House asking for evidence of the president’s claims of voter fraud. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson wrote back, quote, “countless Americans share the same concerns as President Trump,” and added that President Trump is pushing for legislation that would, quote, “establish a uniform standard of photo ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting and end the practice of ballot harvesting.” No evidence of voter fraud was provided and the claims remain unsubstantiated.<\/p>\n

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