Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger has accused President Donald Trump of spreading conspiracy theories after the president suggested the FBI and the Department of Justice could be involved in a plot to steal the election from him.
"This is total fraud, and how the FBI and Department of Justice — I don't know maybe they're involved. But how people are allowed to get away with this stuff is unbelievable," Trump told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.
Kinzinger, who represents Illinois' 16th congressional district, responded on Twitter, invoking a phrase associated with Trump's former White House chief strategist, Steve Bannon.
"The @FBI did not rig the election," Kinzinger wrote. "If you find yourself believing they did, please stop, and say it out loud, and you will realize how silly it sounds.
"@realDonaldTrump simply flooding the zone with baseless conspiracies again."
Bannon, former head of Breitbart News and the man credited by some with Trump's 2016 victory, reportedly said in 2018 the way to deal with the media was to "flood the zone with shit."
The @FBI did not rig the election. If you find yourself believing they did, please stop, and say it out loud, and you will realize how silly it sounds. @realDonaldTrump simply flooding the zone with baseless conspiracies again.
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) November 29, 2020
Kinzinger has defended the integrity of the presidential election since November 3, sending a series of tweets rebutting unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and calling on Trump to stop making them.
Despite a lack of evidence to support the Trump campaign's claims of voter fraud and other irregularities, the president again made the claim on Sunday, telling Fox Business: "This election was rigged. This election was a total fraud and it continues to be as they hide."
"And the problem we have, we go to judges and people don't want to get involved," he said.
The president said the FBI and Department of Justice are "missing in action" on the issue of voter fraud and said he regretted saying he would stay out of the agencies' work.
"You would think if you're in the FBI or Department of Justice, this is the biggest thing you could be looking at. Where are they?" Trump asked.
"100 percent. Elections are important, accepting the results are too," Kinzinger said on November 28 in response to a retweet from fellow Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman that featured a list of representatives the original poster accused of being "responsible for this corrupt election." Kinzinger was among those named.
"Please note: this list is of those who believe that win or lose, you accept the will of the people. Saying an election is stolen doesn't make it so. Lies and conspiracies won't work."
Correction 11/30/2020 9:35 a.m. ET: This article was updated to state Maria Bartiromo interviewed President Donald Trump on Fox News, not Fox Business network.
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About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more
