Trump Claims He Successfully Meddled in California’s Gubernatorial Election

Rigged

The president says Republican Steve Hilton wouldn't have advanced if he hadn't put a call into the U.S. attorney

Donald Trump visited a Mack Trucks facility in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and, as he does in just about all of his speeches, railed about supposed rigged elections. The president was particularly interested in what happened earlier this month in California, where Republican Spencer Pratt failed to advance to the runoff in Los Angeles’ mayoral race.

“Hey, did they screw the kid Pratt? He’s leading and all of a sudden he’s lost,” Trump wondered before detailing how Pratt fell out of contention as the state counted votes following Election Day. “I said, they rigged the election.”

Steve Hilton, the Republican candidate for governor, did advance to the general election, however. Trump says the only reason he did is because he pressed the U.S. attorney about it after seeing Pratt lose.

“I called up the very powerful, very good U.S. attorney in California and I said, ‘Do me a favor, they’re trying to steal that election, too.'” Trump said of the gubernatorial primary. “He was definitely going to lose,” Trump added of Hilton. “About an hour after the call: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Hilton has won.’ If I had not made that call, Steve Hilton would right now be watching the election from home.”

Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra advanced to the general election, with Becerra receiving 28.1 percent of the vote to Hilton’s 24.7 percent. Tom Steyer, a Democratic billionaire, was eliminated in third place with 22.8 percent.

It’s unclear which U.S. attorney Trump called to, according to Trump, prevent the election from being rigged against Hilton. Bill Essayli, a Republican, is the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, which covers Los Angeles. (The Central District of California did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Rolling Stone.)

Trump calling the U.S. attorney to get Hilton over the finish line would not be the first time he’s meddled in an election over the phone. The president famously told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes necessary to flip the winner of state’s 2020 Electoral College votes from Joe Biden to Trump, amid his larger effort to overturn Biden’s election win.

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Trump was eventually indicted for the call pressuring Raffensperger, with the state charging him with solicitation of violation of oath by public officer. Trump has long defended the call, calling it “perfect.”