On Tuesday, NBC News' Vaughn Hillyard reported that former President Donald Trump called Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters after his debate with Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, and read him the riot act for not emphatically claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
The clip, which comes from an upcoming far-right campaign documentary, shows Masters taking a call from the former president on speakerphone. During the conversation, Trump takes particular issue with Masters' claim that he had not personally seen any evidence of fraud in the vote count.
“I heard you did great at the debate, but a bad election answer. You got a lot of support — you got to stay with those people," said Trump. "Absolutely, we stay with those people," Masters said.
"You lose if you go soft,” said Trump. The former President compared Masters unfavorably to gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who has relentlessly been pushing conspiracy theories about the election. “If you want to get across the line, you need to be stronger on that one thing ... lot of complaints about. Look at Kari ... if they say, ‘How is your family?’ She says, ‘The election was rigged and stolen.’”
Masters, a venture capitalist and associate of right-wing tech billionaire Peter Thiel, was Trump's chosen candidate in the Arizona Republican Senate primary, where he beat out other contenders including state Attorney General Mark Brnovich.
All of this comes as election-denying conspiracy theorists around the country, backed by a number of right-wing megadonors, are vying for public office in key state offices administering elections.
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Watch the clip below or at this link.
\u201cTrump to Blake Masters after his #AZSEN debate in which Masters said he hadn\u2019t seen evidence of actual vote counting fraud:\n\n\u201cI heard you did great at the debate \u2014 but a bad election answer. You got a lot of support \u2014 you got to stay with those people \u2026 you lose if you go soft.\u201d\u201d— Vaughn Hillyard (@Vaughn Hillyard) 1666731601
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