“Many, many highly qualified people, like Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, have looked deeply into this issue and have confirmed it to be true and have put together evidence,” White House policy advisor Stephen Miller told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos Sunday morning. “And I suggest you invite Kris Kobach onto your show and he can walk you through some of the evidence of voter fraud in greater detail.”
Miller was pushing the false claim about widespread voter fraud in New Hampshire that his boss, President Donald Trump, has suggested tipped the state’s electoral votes to Hillary Clinton and cost Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte her re-election. Miller didn’t have any actual evidence to share himself, but insisted to Stephanopoulos that Kobach did.
So on Monday morning, CNN’s Kate Bolduan invited Kobach to make his case to her directly.
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“Miller says look to you, sir, for the evidence,” she told her guest. “Where is it?”
Over the next eight minutes, Kobach provided a whole lot of speculation, promising more information at the end of this month, but still no concrete evidence. Asked if he “truly” believes that thousands of Massachusetts residents traveled to New Hampshire to vote on Election Day, Kobach could not confirm that anyone actually voted in both states.
As Bolduan pointed out, Miller “said thousands and thousands did vote illegally, definitively saying that this actually happened.” But, she continued, “You are saying that there is going to be more data coming at the end of the month. Do you have the evidence?”
Once again, he could not confirm Miller’s charge.
Kobach indicated that there is evidence that “millions” of Americans are registered to vote in more than one state, but none that they are actually voting more than once. “Where is the evidence of this widespread rampant millions of people voting?” Bolduan asked again. “If it had happened, why haven't we seen it, secretary?” When Kobach said in his state six people have plead guilty for voting in two states, Bolduan shot back, “Six cases does not rampant widespread voter fraud make.”
The CNN anchor further cornered Kobach when she brought how while New Hampshire elected a Democratic senator and went for Hillary Clinton in November, the state also elected a Republican governor.
“How often is it that people who are going to be brought in, no matter how, to vote illegally are going split a ticket?” she asked.
Instead of answering that question, Kobach pivoted to say that both Democrats and Republicans have been known to commit voter fraud. “It seems people realize that they are actually registered in two states, and some people, a small minority, but some people are tempted to go ahead and cast ballots in both states,” he said. “It's a bipartisan problem.”
“A small minority does not make millions and millions of widespread rampant illegal votes in this country,” Bolduan repeated. “I can’t wait to see the evidence.”
In a tweet following the interview, Kobach accused CNN of "bias" for labeling his statements false on the screen. He said he wanted to let the "viewer decide" despite the fact that neither he nor anyone in the Trump administration has offered evidence for the voter fraud claims.
