Despite being dealt a blow in Maricopa County, Arizona, and with no evidence having surfaced to support the claim that there was widespread voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election, former President Trump this past weekend took aim at Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan for not advancing a bill that would trigger a forensic audit of results in the Lone Star State.


What You Need To Know

  • Former President Trump over the weekend criticized Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan for not advancing a bill that would trigger an audit of state 2020 election results 

  • Trump won Texas by 6 points in 2020, and the state in September announced that results in four counties will be audited 

  • Trump also took issue with Texas' sweeping elections bill that reduced the punishment for illegal voting from a felony to a misdemeanor

  • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott added an agenda item to the current special session of the Texas Legislature that would reverse that provision 

“Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan is another Mitch McConnell. He is not fighting for the people of Texas,” Trump wrote in a news release. “Speaker Phelan should immediately move the Forensic Audit bill, SB 47 by Senator Bettencourt that passed out of the State Senate this week, to the floor. The Speaker knows the bill will overwhelmingly pass the House with Republican support.”

While the bill is now in the House, its outcome is uncertain since Gov. Greg Abbott, who controls the special session agenda, has not added audit measure to the call.

The Texas secretary of state’s office in September announced it will conduct an audit of 2020 election results in Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Collin counties. The audit will likely take place in 2022. Trump earlier called that audit “weak.” Trump won Texas in 2020 by 6 percentage points.

Trump also took issue with Texas’ election bill that will bring sweeping restrictions to the voting process. The bill, which was signed by Gov. Abbott, included a provision that lowers criminal offenses for illegal voting from a second-degree felony to a Class A misdemeanor.

Abbott added a special session agenda item that would reverse that provision. Trump blamed Phelan.

“While standing in the way of a real election audit, Speaker Phelan just weakened the penalty for voting illegally in the state of Texas from a felony to a misdemeanor, siding with the Democrats and calling their amendment that makes a mockery of our election laws ‘thoughtful.’ After the 2020 Presidential Election Scam we need tougher penalties for cheating in our elections, not weaker ones,” Trump wrote.”

Phelan hasn't responded publicly to Trump’s criticisms on either bill, but he does not seem willing to have the House revisit the issue of election security this session, saying recently that the lower chamber will “remain focused on its constitutional obligation to pass redistricting maps," and that “now is not the time to re-litigate” this law.

“Texans are tired of Phelan’s weak RINO leadership in the State House. Texas is a very red state, even more than people know,” Trump concluded. “If this doesn't pass soon, we look forward to seeing him in the Texas primary. It will get done one way, or the other!”