these allegations simply had no merit." Donoghue wanted "to cut through the noise" and be "very blunt" with the President, making it clear "these allegations were simply not true."[148]
During their December 27th conversation with President Trump, Rosen and Donoghue rebutted false claims regarding: suitcases of ballots in Georgia, Dominion's voting machines in Antrim County, a truckload of ballots in Pennsylvania, ballots being scanned multiple times, people voting more than once, dead people voting, Native Americans being paid to vote, and more votes than voters in particular jurisdictions.[149] As the officials debunked each claim, President Trump "would just roll on to another one."[150] Donoghue told President Trump that Federal law enforcement officials had conducted dozens of investigations and hundreds of interviews, and they had concluded that the major allegations were not supported by the evidence developed.[151] Donoghue and Rosen told President Trump "flat out" that "much of the information he [was] getting [was] false and/or just not supported by the evidence."[152] President Trump responded: "You guys may not be following the internet the way I do."[153]
The Department of Justice was not alone in trying to contain the President's conspiracy-mongering. President Trump's lies were often debunked in real-time by State authorities, judges, experts, journalists, Federal officials, and even members of his own legal team. As discussed above, the President's campaign team found that there was no significant fraud in the election. So, the President pushed them aside. The courts rejected nearly every claim brought by the President's legal team. Even though courts rejected the claims as speculative, unsupported and meritless, President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and others continued to assert them as truth to Trump's followers in speeches, tweets, and podcasts.[154]
The burden of refuting the false claims made by President Trump and his surrogates often fell on State and local officials. For example, in Michigan, the Secretary of State's office posted thorough and prompt responses to the claims of election fraud on a "Fact Check" page on its website.[155] In Georgia, the Secretary of State's office issued news releases and held frequent press conferences in the weeks following the election to respond to claims of fraud.[156] County clerks in the contested States also spoke out publicly to refute allegations. Even as the President undermined the public's confidence in how votes are cast and counted, these clerks assured voters that their elections were secure and they could have confidence in the results.[157] Outside experts also publicly denounced and dismantled the claims being raised and amplified by President Trump. This was done in the
