Georgia election official levels Trump's impeachment lawyer

In the wake of the 2020 election, Donald Trump claimed that the state of Georgia rejected "almost zero" ballots but rejected around 4% in the previous election years.

"Almost ZERO ballots rejected in Georgia this election. In years past, close to 4%. Not possible. Must have signature check on envelopes now. Very easy to do. Dems fighting because they got caught. Far more votes than needed for flip. Republicans must get tough!" then-President Trump tweeted on November 19 from his now-deleted Twitter account.

As a Reuters fact check pointed out at the time, the claim is completely false. But that didn't stop defense lawyer Bruce Castor from pushing the conspiracy theory during Trump's impeachment trial on Friday, saying there was an "inexplicable" drop in Georgia's mail ballot rejection rate. He also regurgitated Trump's claims about signature-matching issues.

In a tweet this Friday, Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling shot down the claim.

"OK...piecing this together," he wrote. "The initial absentee rejection rate for signature issue was about double in 2020 as 2018. There is a cure period now and the final rate was 0.15% in both years. So...shockingly, the disinformation continues..."