The election lies that got us here Before a pro-Trump mob violently attacked the Capitol this week, leaving at least five people dead, President Trump spent months building a false narrative that the presidential election would be rigged. Hundreds of misleading claims and outright lies flooded the airwaves and social media, amplified by Trump supporters and media figures on Fox News and other right-wing outlets. So when Trump lost, the groundwork was ready for him to claim despite all evidence that the election was stolen. This epic disinformation campaign culminated in a deadly attack in the halls of Congress on Jan. 6, hours after Trump held a rally insisting that President-elect Joe Biden's election was a fraud and egging on his supporters to march toward the Capitol as lawmakers and Vice President Pence were certifying Biden's victory. It's a grim reminder that the truth matters — and that lies, especially from political leaders, can have devastating consequences. Our database of Trump's false and misleading claims, now updated through the date of the election, illustrates the scale of the deception: more than 1,795 bogus election claims from January 2020 through Nov. 5. The grand total for Trump is now at 29,508 false and misleading claims during his presidency. He will easily blow past 30,000 by the time his term is done, whether that's Jan. 20 or sooner. Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here. Did you hear something fact-checkable? Send it here; we'll check it out. Georgia on my mind Our Washington Post colleague Amy Gardner obtained and published the audio of a one-hour call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump urged Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to overturn his defeat in the state. As usual, the president was relying on falsehoods and highly dubious sources of information to contest the election results. Georgia officials told him that social media posts don't count because anyone can say anything. But Trump, as usual when confronted with logic or evidence, was not swayed. Trump: "People that went to vote and they were told they can't vote because they've already been voted for. And it's a very sad thing. They walked out complaining. But the number's large. … You also have a substantial numbers of people, thousands and thousands, who went to the voting place on November 3, were told they couldn't vote, were told they couldn't vote because a ballot had been put on their name. And you know that's very, very, very, very sad." This has been a persistent claim by the Trump campaign in various states — that Trump supporters went to vote, only to find their ballot had already been cast, and thus they were given a provisional ballot. No evidence has ever emerged to prove this. "There have no reports of anyone being turned away on Election Day," Raffensperger told CBS Evening News, noting the situation described by Trump surely would have been reported. Trump: "You had out-of-state voters. They voted in Georgia, but they were from out of state, of 4,925." During the call, a lawyer for Georgia's secretary of state, Ryan Germany, told Trump that his numbers were wrong. "They're not accurate," he said. "Every one we've been through are people that lived in Georgia, moved to a different state, but then moved back to Georgia legitimately." Trump: "You had drop boxes, which is very bad. You had drop boxes that were picked up. We have photographs, and we have affidavits from many people." Germany previously told the state House Government Affairs Committee that video reviews found this to be false. We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @rizzoTK, @mmkelly22) or Facebook. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. Scroll down for this week's Pinocchio roundup. | 
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