Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) was put in the awkward position Tuesday by CNN’s Dana Bash of having to defend and downplay President Donald Trump’s explicit threats to “take over” the voting process in more than a dozen states.
On Monday, Trump told Dan Bongino – his own former deputy director of the FBI before he resigned amid controversy – that Republicans should take control of elections in “at least 15 places,” citing his longstanding false claim that the 2020 election was fraught with fraud.
“Would you be comfortable with the Trump administration taking over elections nationally?” Bash asked Gonzales, speaking from the U.S. Capitol, bluntly.
Rather than giving an affirmative answer, Gonzales instead pivoted to reinterpret Trump’s remarks and provide a generic response about “election integrity.”
“I think the president is bringing up a fact that is on many Americans' minds: election integrity,” Gonzales said.
“Meaning, you can win an election, you can lose an election, we just want to make sure that our votes are being counted, counted fairly, timely, all those different things. It's when that doesn't happen – or the perception that it doesn't happen – that is dangerous to our republic.”
Trump, of course, is arguably the loudest cheerleader when it comes to promoting the idea that U.S. elections are compromised by systemic fraud, a fact that Bash didn’t hesitate to remind Gonzales of with a sharp interjection.
“Forgive me for interrupting, but the 'perception' by a lot of Republicans out there has been that the election was stolen, and there have been multiple reviews, multiple recounts, multiple courts that have said that [Trump] is not telling the truth, that [systemic election fraud] is not happening,” Bash said.
“So isn't that the issue here? That the 'perception' is being laid out by a president who is trying to sow doubt in this coming election, nevermind the past elections?”
Gonzales again dodged the question, pivoting instead to criticizing Democratic states like California for taking longer than others to certify their election results, and again, attempted to reinterpret the president’s remarks.
“I think that's the root of what the president is saying, is we have to make sure the election integrity is there and all Americans believe in the result at the end of the day,” Gonzalez said.
