Michigan's Jocelyn Benson on election denialism

And you're here for the National Association of Secretaries of State. As I understand it, later today the attorney general of the United States, Pam Bondi; the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard; and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem all due to talk to secretaries of state across the country. Try to evaluate those two things for me, if you can. Yeah. I mean, it really reinforces what we've seen unfolding since the 2020 election, which is that we continue to be in the middle of a battle over the future of our democracy, over the future of our rights and freedoms. And it's a battle that's increasingly-- it's made it increasingly clear, as things unfold in Minnesota as well, how critical state officials are to standing up to lies, to threats to the misuse and abuse of authority at the federal level, and do so to stand up in furtherance of the truth of the law and to protect the voices, the votes, the safety of the residents and citizens in our respective cities and states. So I'm proud to have always been that official who will do that. But now more than ever, we need all states officials, regardless of your political background, regardless of your party affiliation, to just stand up to the threats, the lies, all designed ultimately, I think, not just to dismantle democracy and all that we talk about in this battle, but to make us feel small, like our voices don't matter, and to deter the American people from actually exercising their rights to hold this administration accountable at the ballot box-- all of which, of course, is tied up in the other rhetoric we're hearing about. President Trump joking about canceling an election and all the rest. Not on our watch. But also, again, let's read between the lines. This is about making us feel like we don't have the power that we do as citizens in this country to hold elected officials, leaders accountable, especially when they do things that hurt our economy and our democracy. Do you see any legitimate role for the FBI taking materials out of the Fulton County elections offices? Look, first, transparency is our friend. And the 2020 election, through being a very transparent, secure, most highly scrutinized election in American history, certainly in recent history, has only reaffirmed-- all of the investigations have only reaffirmed that election was secure and an accurate reflection of the will of the people. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. And instead of accepting that and moving on and actually doing the work that he has now been elected to do, the rehashing of long-disproven conspiracy theories with no evidence that there's any evidence of wrongdoing. And look, if there had been anything awry with the 2020 election, we would have found it by now because of the level of scrutiny that we've seen, not just in Georgia, where they did a full hand recount of the paper ballots in that election.

With observers. With observers. Transparency is our friend. In Michigan, we did over 250 audits of that election, each of which, all of which conducted not just by election officials, but by the state auditor, by Republican officials in the state Senate. All of those investigations, audits and the like only reaffirmed the results of the election and reinforced the security of our processes. So, again, we welcome the questions. We welcome the ongoing conversation. But no one-- we all need to at some point just recognize Donald Trump lost in 2020. The election was safe and secure and an accurate reflection of the will of the people. And it gets to the point of then, why? Why rehash these old, long-disproven conspiracy theories? Because one effect it does have, not just in continuing to sow seeds of doubt among the American people, wrongly so, about our elections, it leads to threats against us, against election officials, against local officials, against our families, our staff. And that is exhausting to show up every day and do our job well and with integrity, whether we be Republicans, independents or Democrats, to do a good job and administer a safe, secure, high-turnout election, and then have to withstand threats to our families, to our safety because of these baseless accusations and conspiracy theories. To me, if Attorney General Bondi, Secretary Noem and others want to come to our association today and talk to us, that's what I have to say. Know that as you further these conspiracy theories, the impact is on us.

Jeopardizing you, jeopardizing the people who report to you. Exactly. And local officials. Clerks and communities who are our neighbors. Poll workers who sign up to do this work because they believe in democracy. These are professionals who are committed to integrity and to the law and to making sure every vote is counted and every voice is heard. And we have been under and endured so much over these last few years because of this rhetoric, because of these falsehoods. We always stand up and disprove and prove that the election was secure and accurate, disprove the accusations, and yet they keep coming. And yet it keeps happening. And it's to the point where for us, we'll continue to endure it. But I want these folks to know, who are now abusing their authority at the federal level chasing down these falsehoods and baseless conspiracy theories, that the only thing they're actually going to do is hurt our ability to do our jobs and threaten the security of our lives. You can catch my full conversation with Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform.