Fact check: Trump offers two dangerous falsehoods in a largely straightforward briefing

By CNN’s rough estimate, over the past three weeks Trump has made at least 50 false or misleading claims at these briefings, which in many ways have become a substitute for the political rallies he can no longer hold due to the coronavirus outbreak.

That’s what made Wednesday night’s briefing so noteworthy. By our preliminary count, Trump made just two false claims. This isn’t to minimize those falsehoods. In fact both claims, pertaining to the President’s false assertion that voter fraud is rampant in this country, are particularly dangerous, especially given the problems the coronavirus outbreak presents to voting.

Here’s a look at what we found.

Trump falsely claims voter fraud is rampant in the US

In light of the effect the coronavirus is having on state primaries and issues of voting in general, Trump was asked on Wednesday night about his previous statements that mail-in voting is susceptible to fraud. While many experts have suggested mail-in ballots could be an effective solution to dealing with the virus, Trump again attacked them as corrupt, despite having voted that way himself, and, more broadly, falsely claimed that voter fraud was rampant throughout the country.

“There’s a lot of fraudulent voting going on in this country,” Trump said.

In response to the initial question from CNN’s Jim Acosta, Trump also implied that mail-in voting was politically biased, claiming that states where all residents vote by mail are won by Democrats. That’s also incorrect. Five states in the US vote by mail: Utah, Colorado, Hawaii, Washington and Oregon. Both of Utah’s US senators and its governor are Republicans, and Colorado also has Republican US senator, Cory Gardner.

False claims of voter fraud in California

In an effort to support his claims of pervasive voter fraud, Trump cited a lawsuit in California involving conservative legal activist group Judicial Watch.

“There’s evidence that’s being compiled just like its being compiled in the state of California, where they settled with Judicial Watch saying that a million people should not have been voting,” Trump said.

Facts First: That’s false. There is no evidence for Trump’s repeated suggestion of widespread voter fraud by non-citizens in California. Trump also incorrectly described California’s legal settlement with Judicial Watch. The state made no admission of any voter fraud in its settlement.

Here’s the back story:

But there was no evidence that any of these inactive people voted illegally; Judicial Watch itself said most of them are simply “voters who have moved to another county or state or have passed away.” And California did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

“The Judicial Watch settlement provided no evidence of fraud whatsoever,” said Rick Hasen, an expert in elections law and a professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine.