NC man sues pro-Trump group after donating $2.5M to fight voter fraud
Fred Eshelman donated the money to True the Vote, Inc. and wants a refund after the group's efforts failed to prove fraud.
A North Carolina man demanded his donation to a pro-Trump group be refunded in a new lawsuit claiming “empty promises.”
Read More: US appeals court rejects Trump appeal over Pennsylvania race
According to Independent, Fred Eshelman filed a lawsuit against True The Vote Inc., requesting his $2.5M in donations be returned. Eshelman supported the group in their efforts to prove voter fraud after outgoing President Donald Trump lost the 2020 Presidential Election to President-elect Joe Biden. The outlet reported Eshelman claimed that he “regularly and repeatedly” asked the organization for updates on their initiatives, but received “vague responses, platitudes, and empty promises.” He claimed the group offered him $1M to drop the lawsuit.
Newsweek reported Eshelman wired the Houston-based organization $2M on Nov. 5 and then sent the remaining $500,000 the following week.
True The Vote claimed to have “sophisticated data modeling and statistical analysis to identify potential illegal or fraudulent balloting.” according to Independent. The group had filed four lawsuits in support of Trump in the weeks following the election, however, all lawsuits have been dropped.
“While we stand by the voters’ testimony that was brought forth, barriers to advancing our arguments, coupled with constraints on time, made it necessary for us to pursue a different path,” said True The Vote on their website according to Independent.
None of Trump’s claims of voter fraud have panned out. BBC reported multiple allegations made by POTUS, his administration, and his supporters, in an effort to undermine the election results have been proven false. This included a claim that thousands of dead people had votes cast in their names however, there is no evidence that “that there’s been widespread fraud through ballots being cast for dead people.’
Former President Barack Obama shared his thoughts on Trump’s refusal to concede. As theGrio reported, the 44th president was “troubled” by Republican leadership in Congress seems to be enabling the baseless claims of voter fraud and cheating.
“It is one more step in delegitimizing not just the incoming Biden administration, but democracy generally,” he said according to the report. “And that’s a dangerous path.”
Trump announced he would leave the White House if Biden gets the electoral college votes during his Thanksgiving press conference, however when asked by a journalist about voter fraud, he doubled down on his allegations.
Read More: Trump snaps on reporter: ‘Don’t ever talk to the president that way’
“You’re going to see things happening over the next week or two that are going to be shocking to people,” Trump said according to the report. “If you look at the numbers in Michigan, if you look at the numbers in Pennsylvania, if you look at fraudulent voting and fraudulent votes, so I can’t say what’s first and what’s last in terms of is this the last one or is this the first one of a second term. We’ll see what happens. Nobody wants to see the kind of fraud that this election has really come to represent.”
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