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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Prescott, Ariz. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Prescott, Ariz. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Prescott, Ariz. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Jon Greenberg
By Jon Greenberg October 27, 2020

White House press secretary McEnany takes Biden’s words on voter fraud out of context

If Your Time is short

  • Biden described Democrats’ efforts to help people vote, and provide legal resources if they faced challenges to voting.

  • He referred to those efforts as a "voter fraud organization."

  • He never admitted to voter fraud.

President Donald Trump has been sounding the alarm about voter fraud since he took office, and it didn’t take much for Republicans to pounce on Joe Biden’s words during a recent interview.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted Oct. 24, "Biden admits to voter fraud."

She attached a video of Biden speaking and added, "@JoeBiden brags about having the "most extensive VOTER FRAUD organization in history."

Her interpretation, however, suffers from selective listening.

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Biden did use the words "voter fraud organization," but he was describing a project to help people learn where and how to vote, not cast false ballots.

Here’s the full picture.

Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, was speaking on the pro-Democratic program "Pod Save America." One of the hosts asked him what he would tell people who had not yet voted or did not have a plan to vote.

Biden cautioned that voting can get complicated. He then proceeded to give a complicated answer. (You can read a full transcript here.)

"The Republicans are doing everything they can to make it harder for people to vote," Biden said. "We have put together, I think, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics."

Biden then referenced long lines of people waiting to vote early and he described the system Democrats have in place.

"If, in fact, you have any problem, go to — and I don't have the number, but it's 833-DEM-VOTE," Biden said. "Call that number. We have over a thousand lawyers, over a thousand of them answering the phone. IIf you think there's any challenge to your voting."

Soon after Biden spoke, an office at the Republican National Committee tweeted an excerpt of Biden’s interview, saying he had bragged about his voter fraud organization.

Biden campaign national spokesman TJ Duklo released a statement to underscore Biden’s meaning.

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"We have assembled the most robust and sophisticated team in presidential campaign history to confront voter suppression and fight voter fraud however it may present itself," Duklo said.

Biden has talked about this effort before.

"We put together the largest voter protection program that's ever been put together," he said in a Sept. 23 interview. "We have well over 1,000 people on the ground."

He said much the same thing in a speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Aug. 6.

We reached out to the White House press office and the Trump campaign and did not hear back.

Our ruling

McEnany said that Biden "admits to voter fraud."

This is wholly inaccurate. Biden was describing an effort to prevent voter suppression when he misspoke.

We rate this claim False.

This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 US Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here, for more.

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More by Jon Greenberg

White House press secretary McEnany takes Biden’s words on voter fraud out of context

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