Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, dismissed concerns on Sunday about voter fraud in the 2024 election and the comparisons made to the much-contested 2020 election after being confronted by CNN's Dana Bash.
Jordan, an ally of Trump's and the House Judiciary Committee chairman, appeared on CNN's State of the Union the Sunday after Republicans took the White House and U.S. Senate—and possibly the U.S. House of Representatives as votes are still being counted.
Bash raised President-elect Donald Trump's "baseless" accusations about voter fraud on Election Night just ahead of his victory against Vice President Kamala Harris, noting that he stopped as soon as the results started going his way.
Trump had pre-empted claims of cheating in the important battleground state of Pennsylvania, with no evidence even before results began coming in, writing on Truth Social, his social media platform, on November 5: "A lot of talk about massive CHEATING in Philadelphia. Law Enforcement coming!!!"
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner dismissed the claims, saying there was "no factual basis whatsoever within law enforcement to support this wild allegation."
Bash told Jordan: "I haven't seen you or your colleagues claiming any irregularities, no rampant voter fraud this time. It seems to me Republicans claim voter fraud and election integrity when you lose, and not when you win."
Trump and many Republicans maintained claims that the 2020 election was stolen via widespread voter fraud without evidence. On January 6, 2021, thousands of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in an attempt to stop the certification of President Joe Biden's victory, triggering violence in the process, which led to one person being fatally shot by police and the injuries of dozens of officers.
Jordan was one of the Republicans who tried to prevent certifying the 2020 election and refused to comply with a congressional subpoena about the riot.
The congressman on Sunday immediately denied Bash's comment, calling Trump's victory "the greatest political comeback" that "even Teddy Roosevelt couldn't do."
Bash and Jordan continued to talk over each other as the CNN host tried to clarify her point, eventually getting a word in to say, "Last time around, it wasn't so much about the policy differences or the personality differences. There were false claims about election fraud when Donald Trump lost. This time, Donald Trump won, and you think the election was free and fair. You see there's a little of a...disconnect there?"
Jordan focused instead on the apparent lack of Democrat turnout and drop in votes— currently just shy of 71 million compared to the 81 million Biden won in 2020—but when Bash asked him if he thought the 2024 election was free and fair, Jordan simply said, "I do."
When asked why it was different—if Trump's loss versus victory was the only difference—Jordan focused on mail-in voting, saying there were "concerns" about the process, citing alleged lack of verification on those votes.
Newsweek has reached out to Jordan's office by email on Sunday morning for comment.
Meanwhile, Bash also stressed during the interview that the 2020 election faced rigorous legal challenges, virtually all of which ultimately failed to find any irregularity or fraud, and pushed back on Jordan's assertion that voters rejected Democrats for "name calling" by noting that "the name calling was very strong on the Republican side of the aisle, from the former president."
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