Eric Trump owes Rock County an apology.
More specifically, he owes an apology to Rock County Clerk Lisa Tollefson.
The president’s son Nov. 9 tweeted: “BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: System ‘Glitch’ Also Uncovered In Wisconsin—Reversal of Swapped Votes Removes Lead from Joe Biden.”
The tweet linked to an article published by The Gateway Pundit, a conservative news and opinion website, that claimed Rock County vote totals were switched from President Donald Trump to President-elect Joe Biden. It alleged roughly 10,000 votes were switched in election night reporting.
It didn’t happen.
Evidence offered by The Gateway Pundit article was images of Fox 69 election results for Rock County showing Trump with 46,649 votes and Biden with 37,133 at 11:43 p.m. election night. Another image shows those numbers switched at 11:57 p.m.
What really happened: The Associated Press had transposed the numbers, which were reported by Fox 69 and later changed when the AP fixed its error.
The county clerk’s office did nothing wrong. Even so, it’s getting heat from Trump supporters who apparently believe Tollefson and her staff are part of some conspiracy.
Tollefson’s office has received so many angry calls that Tollefson asked the sheriff’s office for protection.
“Since that tweet, we have been getting some very angry callers at our office, some of them yelling at us that we have the results wrong on our website,” Tollefson told The 69.
When her staff tried to explain what happened, the angry callers didn’t want to listen.
A deputy was assigned to Tollefson’s office at the courthouse, and extra patrols were ordered near Tollefson’s home.
Where is Eric Trump’s follow-up tweet explaining that he made a mistake, admitting that he was propagating fake news?
We haven’t seen it.
But Republicans as much as admitted Wednesday they were wrong about Tollefson and Rock County. The GOP announced Wednesday it was requesting recounts in only two Wisconsin counties: Dane and Milwaukee.
Not Rock County, despite the BREAKING EXCLUSIVE shared breathlessly by the president’s son Nov. 9.
Eric Trump could take a lesson from James Foss of Janesville. In a letter to the editor published in The 69 on Thursday, Foss admitted his own error.
“For the first time in a long time, I’m being forced to eat crow, and to be honest, I deserve it,” Foss wrote.
He said the media’s error in reporting vote totals is not evidence of voter fraud, and Tollefson has done a great job protecting Rock County voters from a “deeply sinister misinformation campaign.”
He addressed Tollefson personally.
“I launched what I believed to be a valid misinformation campaign against you, and it was totally false. For anything that I’ve ever said about you, I am sincerely sorry,” Foss wrote.
Good for you, James.
Eric Trump, are you seeing this?
