When asked about the claims made by former President Trump about election fraud, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum stated on CNN: “I think it’s clear that there’s vote-buying going on at a scale like we have never seen before.”
On “State of the Union,” Burgum—who is being mulled over as a potential vice presidential choice by Trump—reacted to queries concerning remarks made by the presumed Republican candidate during a weekend donor retreat in Florida.
Trump, who isn’t afraid to accuse Democrats of unproven wrongdoing, claimed that his opponents use “welfare” as a campaign promise. “Health care is important. In his statements on Saturday, Trump added that people who obtain welfare in order to vote “cheat” on top of cheating.
The idea that all people getting government assistance are being bribed to vote is not one that Burgum supported. “I don’t think that’s the intention that he meant when he said that,” he added. but ultimately returned to the topic of purchasing votes by bringing up Joe Biden’s attempts to partially cancel certain student loans.
Spending hundreds of billions of dollars in public funds becomes so inefficient that it seems like we’re taking out loans to pay for it. It’s not a “spend and tax” plan. “Just borrow from the Chinese and give it away,” he adamantly stated.
The public knows those are essentially pre-election bribes, Burgum said. People are being asked to vote for them because they are offering to pay off their debt. When does a scheme like student debt become nothing more than a means to buy votes? He proceeded to address his own inquiry by stating that, in his opinion, this was an exceptional endeavor to garner votes.
Burgum, a two-term governor, announced in December that he will not be running for president in 2024 as a Republican. To qualify for the first GOP debate in July 2023, candidates had to collect a certain number of individual donations; Burgum established a program to give $20 gift cards to donors in July 2023.
According to publicist Lance Trover, “Doug knows people are hurting because of Bidenflation and giving Biden Economic Relief Gift Cards is a way to help 50,000 people until Doug is elected President to fix this crazy economy for everyone.” Thus, the idea was put out.
In addition to defending Trump in response to questions on the former president’s criminal trial in New York, Burgum did so on Sunday in response to other queries from host Jake Tapper.
“This trial wouldn’t even be happening if it were anybody else,” Burgum stated. Additionally, he stated that a conviction of Trump would constitute “a travesty of justice.”