Trump Says He Sought California Fraud Probe After June 2 Primary as Hilton Reached Top 2
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 25
Trump Says He Sought California Fraud Probe After June 2 Primary as Hilton Reached Top 2
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 25
Summary
Trump said he called a California U.S. attorney after the June 2 gubernatorial primary and asked the prosecutor to investigate what he called a "rigged" vote count.
At a Pennsylvania speech and again in the Oval Office, he claimed Steve Hilton secured the No. 2 runoff spot within an hour of that call and said Hilton would otherwise have lost.
No evidence of fraud has emerged in the primary, and it remains unclear what authority a federal prosecutor could have had to affect the count; Trump did not identify which of California's four U.S. attorneys he contacted.
Bill Essayli, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said on June 5 that his office was pursuing multiple election-fraud investigations, while Hilton is set to face Democrat Xavier Becerra in November.