Jake Tapper Slams Trump’s Election Denialism at Minnesota Rally: ‘These Lies — They Literally Have a Body Count’

CNN anchor Jake Tapper unloaded on former President Donald Trump for repeating “lies” about how he lost the 2020 presidential election because Democrats “cheated” and claimed that they were planning on cheating again in the upcoming election – starting with the Democratic-leaning swing state of Minnesota.

Speaking to supporters at a Minnesota rally on Saturday , Trump claimed that if Democrats don’t cheat, he will win the state.

In a clip shown on CNN, Trump said: “They cheat. They have no shame. They cheat. Do you understand that? They’re the most crooked people. They cheated in the last election, and they’re going to cheat in this election, but we’re going to get them.”

The host began: “Donald Trump, of course, lost the election fair and square in 2020.”

“Minnesota has not voted for a Republican for president since I was three years old,” Tapper said. “Since Richard Nixon in 1972. And, yes, that even includes when Ronald Reagan won landslide electoral college victories…”

Tapper then showed a series of maps showing Minnesota’s long record of voting Democrat , beginning with Reagan’s 1980 victory over incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter .

That’s the 1980 [election] Can we all see that sea of red? And then on top, at the top in the middle, that’s little Minnesota. That’s blue. One of the very few states in 1980 that did not vote for Reagan. Then 1984, Minnesota, besides DC, literally the only Democratic holdout in the Reagan landslide of 1984. Trump himself lost to Hillary Clinton in Minnesota by 1.6 percentage points in 2016, the year he won. And he lost to president Biden there in 2020 by seven percentage points.

And yet, Trump, who has also never won the popular vote and lost the electoral vote in 2020, is out there saying that if he loses Minnesota, it’s because of cheating. It’s not true.

Tapper then warned that “lies about election fraud are not harmless” and retold how the former president’s “fervent” supporters, who believed “those election lies,” were motivated by his claims into “attacking the US Capitol on January 6” in a bid to stop the certification process – running more clips of violence from that day.

One of the most shameful days in this nation’s history. They were attempting to stop the certification of an election that President Joe Biden won fairly. Three of Trump’s supporters died that day of apparent medical emergencies. One Trump supporter was fatally shot by police as she approached the floor of the House of Representatives along with a violent mob. A US Capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick, later died of his injuries withstood on that day and then four other officers who defended the Capitol that day and were traumatized, took their own lives. And it all began with this lie that the election was stolen.

Tapper concluded: “And here we are again in 2024 with just 99 days to go until the election, listening to Donald Trump’s stick with these same fabricated claims that he can only lose Minnesota if Democrats cheat. No.”

The host added: “Now look, Donald Trump may very well win the election. He may well lose the election, but these lies, they literally have a body count.”

Watch on CNN.