Trump in Georgia repeats false claim that Jon Ossoff's election was illegitimate
At a rally in Georgia, US President Donald Trump again claimed without evidence that Senator Jon Ossoff's election was illegitimate. Ossoff faces Republican congressman Mike Collins in November and leads in polls.
US President Donald Trump, speaking at a rally in Dalton in north Georgia, again claimed that the state's election was fraudulent and called the election of Democratic senator Jon Ossoff illegitimate. The claim is false. The rally took place in October, ahead of November's US elections, in which Ossoff will face Republican congressman Mike Collins.
Trump said Ossoff does not represent Georgia's values and added: "And he was never elected." Recent polling shows Ossoff holding a consistent lead over Collins, most recently by nine points.
Promises and foreign policy
The president said he was about to complete the "most successful" two-year run of any president in history, citing stock market gains, low unemployment and poverty rates, and the creation of "Trump accounts" for newborns. He repeated that voters would receive a $5,000 government check if Republicans keep control of the US House of Representatives. He argued that $21tn in pledged foreign manufacturing investment would offset the trillion-dollar cost, though most of those pledges remain unfulfilled.
Trump also touted his immigration record and the overthrow of the Venezuelan government. He described the early days of the war on Iran through Oval Office meetings and damage reports. The Iran war has driven up gasoline and diesel prices, but Trump dismissed critics who cite higher living costs, calling "affordability" Democratic propaganda. His claim that no illegal immigrants have been admitted to the US in the past 17 months is misleading, as undocumented migrants are rarely "admitted" in any official way.
At the rally
The rally began at about 2pm, with some 1,200 people filling the grandstands at Dalton municipal airport. Trump took the stage at about 4.20pm, 80 minutes after the scheduled start, while about 300 people stood in the afternoon sun. Supporters remained loyal. Two protesters briefly unfurled a banner with an anti-ICE slogan, and security quickly removed them. An assault on a protester by Trump supporters at an Ohio event on Monday was not repeated.
