Days before the U.S. Presidential and Vice-Presidential Electoral College voted, social media users shared posts claiming that CNN reported that outgoing President Donald Trump “is likely to get his second term.” Based on an excerpt from the Fareed Zakaria GPS show that aired five weeks before election day, the allegations interpret Zakaria’s statement as to how Trump could theoretically remain in office without winning the popular vote in states ( or, for Maine and Nebraska, the congressional districts) which together constitute 270 votes of the Electoral College.
Examples of social media posts making this claim can be found here, here and here.
Many of the posts share a link to an article on November 30 on a website called The Black Sphere (here). With the headline, “CNN RECOGNIZES that Trump is likely to get his second term,” the Black Sphere article claims “the realization has begun to draw in for the left.” It cites a snippet from CNN’s Fareed Zakaria who allegedly commented on President Trump’s inevitable outcome. A second term. ”
WANTED ZAKARIA CLIP
These posts do not mention that the Fareed Zakaria cut comes from a segment available here, which aired on September 27, 2020, 37 days before the 2020 general election on November 3. They portray Zakaria as definitive that Trump will remain in office rather than discuss a hypothetical remedy for the president to stay in power without winning the popular vote in states with 270 collective votes in the Electoral College.
In the segment, Zakaria discusses “legal and constitutional methods that will enable Trump to stay on without winning the vote.”
The text presented in the stone reads: “FAREED’S TAKE: How Trump could lose and still win,” “Zakaria sketches a POTENTIAL WAY TO TRUMP VICTORY”: 1) “Trump’s lead evaporates with the ballots counted,” 2) “Legislators decide to elect the voters themselves,” 3) “Competitive voters are sent to Congress,” 4) “Congress throws away electoral votes from disputed states,” and 5) “Since no one has 270 electoral votes, breaks down the US House dead end every state gets one vote. ”
The first step in this scenario did take place, with Biden extending its narrow lead over Trump as provinces in the field of the fighting stars still reported by poll results in the days after election day (here). But to get past the second step in the scenario, Republican leaders in key battlefield states would not have to confirm a popular victory for Biden in their states (here).
In a statement sent to Reuters in an email, Fareed Zakaria explained that his opening remarks, made five weeks before the election, had been ripped out of context “to make it sound like the exact opposite of what I said. has, argue. “
‘In the piece, I explained the’ frightening ‘prospect that Donald Trump, even if he lost the election, could halt the process after the election with lawsuits and challenges to get Congress to elect him as president – against the will of the people who made their votes in the election. I described this potential outcome as “an example of democratic dysfunction that will compete with a ‘banana republic’ on the planet.” ‘
Zakaria recommended viewing the full commentary from September 27 (here), for which a transcript is available here. Further context is provided in Zakaria’s column in the Washington Post on September 24: “Trump can stay in power, even if he does not win the election. The Constitution allows it. ”
Zakaria described the recent distribution of the track out of context as ‘Orwellian’ and ‘intentionally intended to spread and spoil the meaning of my argument.’
CERTIFICATION
Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger demanded a second statement on Dec. 2, prompted by Trump’s campaign. No significant changes were seen (here). On December 7, Georgia reaffirmed its election results, confirming the victory of the state’s 16 electoral votes.
Michigan state councilors on November 23 confirmed the results of the presidential election for Biden (here) after two Republicans on the Wayne County board failed unsuccessfully to recall their votes to confirm the province’s results after Trump himself called them.
Pennsylvania ratified its election results on November 24 and finished Biden as the winner of the presidential race (here).
On December 9, CNN and the New York Times reported that all 50 states and the District of Columbia had certified their election results for Biden (here, here).
Since all election results have been officially certified, the second step of the scenario outlined by Zakaria on September 27 is almost impossible. In key field states on the field, Republican lawmakers did not presume to vote in their election, but rather certified the elections elected by voters.
SAFE HARBODAY
In addition, “safe haven”, the deadline under U.S. election law for states to confirm the results of the presidential election, was passed on Dec. 8, making Trump’s already tumultuous campaign to overthrow his election loss even more unlikely (here).
Douglas Spencer, a professor of law and public policy at the University of Connecticut (here), told Reuters in an email that Congress had passed the safe harbor deadline, bound by the 1887 Election Act ( here) to accept the voter list. sent by the governor, who is the nationwide certified vote before the safe harbor deadline.
CNN reported on December 7 that due to the safe haven deadline: “Trump’s window for undermining the election (was) closing” (here). Consequently, Congress must ‘accept election results certified before the deadline’ when elections are counted on 6 January 2020.
SUCCESSFUL CHALLENGES
CNN, along with other major news organizations, called the race for President-elect Biden on November 7 after predicting his election victory in Pennsylvania, which has 20 votes (here), bringing the president-elect’s total to 306 Brought.
Despite President Trump’s unfounded allegations of widespread electoral fraud, state election officials, as well as U.S. Attorney General William Barr (here), reported that there were no systemic irregularities or evidence to support these allegations.
On Dec. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a defeat to Republicans who wanted to throw out up to 2.5 million ballots in Pennsylvania, with judges refusing to stop the state from winning the election of President Joe Biden (here).
On Dec. 9, President Trump and 17 U.S. states led by Republican Attorney General Missouri Eric Schmitt threw their support behind a lengthy lawsuit by Texas to overturn his election loss by asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on to cast the votes in four. declared (here).
On Friday, December 11, however, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Texas case and gave President Trump a fatal blow in his quest to undo his election defeat (here). In a brief statement (here), the judges said Texas did not have the right to bring the case, and ended what Trump put forward as his best hope of overthrowing the election.
VOTERS CONFIRM
On December 14, all 538 voters in their respective states met and cast their votes for the presidency. As projected, 306 voters cast their ballots for Biden and 232 their votes for Trump (here).
When voters voted for the presidency on Monday, there were no “unbelieving voters” – members of the electoral college who are going to vote for someone other than the candidate who won the popular vote in their state (here).
ANY OTHER WAY?
Spencer outlined a final, but highly unlikely, scenario in which Trump could legally remain in office. If a member of the House and a member of the Senate challenge the votes of a state (or a set of states) on January 6, 2021, Congress must vote or the result must be overturned, giving a majority in both rooms would require.
“Of course, the House will not do that, and it is not even clear that the Senate will do that,” Spencer said. “But it is possible that a single member in each room will present a challenge.”
He noted that such challenges are not unheard of, as Democrats challenged election votes in Ohio in 2004 (here) and in 2016 (here). “It will make no difference,” Spencer said of the challenges facing members of Congress. “It never does.”
For Biden to receive 269 votes instead of 306, the House and Senate will have to vote to reject election votes for states with at least 37 collective votes.
VERDICT
Untrue. CNN did not report that Trump is likely to get a second term in office. Five weeks before Election Day, Fareed Zakaria outlined a scenario in which Republican-controlled lawmakers in battlefield states could choose not to ratify election results, causing Trump to “lose but still win.”
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.