Trump claims he sent the FBI to Florida to stop voter fraud in 2018. Officials say no such thing happened.

Former President Donald Trump described in nice element Thursday night time how he purportedly delivered a 2018 election win to now-Gov. Ron DeSantis by sending FBI brokers to stop “ballot theft” in a serious Florida county.

But officers on Friday indicated that the former president’s account was a fabrication.

“Never happened,” former Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Isgur tweeted Friday.

Her touch upon Twitter was in response to Trump’s assertion about the Florida elections that yr.

“[A]fter the Race, when votes were being stolen by the corrupt Election process in Broward County, and Ron was going down ten thousand votes a day, along with now-Senator Rick Scott, I sent in the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys, and the ballot theft immediately ended, just prior to them running out of the votes necessary to win. I stopped his Election from being stolen,” Trump wrote.

The new claims, which he didn’t assist with any proof, have been accompanied by scathing remarks blasting DeSantis — referred to by Trump as “Ron DeSanctimonious” — at a time when the GOP governor and potential 2024 presidential candidate is garnering reward from right-leaning media shops for his resounding re-election victory on Tuesday. The New York Post, in Trump’s former hometown, declared the Florida governor “DeFuture” of the Republican Party, and referred to as Trump its previous.

Trump’s assertion about the 2018 gubernatorial contest additionally raised severe questions on whether or not he may need used federal brokers to intervene in an election. The bar for the FBI to get entangled in election tabulation is enormously excessive, and there are strict pointers prohibiting the FBI’s presence inside voting places.

The FBI subject workplace in Miami referred inquiries about Trump’s put up to bureau headquarters in Washington, which declined remark. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida in Miami didn’t reply to requests for remark.

The Broward County elections workplace additionally didn’t reply to a request for remark, however a spokesman disputed Trump’s account in an announcement to the Tallahassee Democrat.

“The Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office has no documentation of any federal law enforcement presence during the 2018 elections,” Ivan Castro, spokesman for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections, informed the newspaper. “Also, to clarify, there is no evidence of corruption during the 2018 election cycle in Broward County.”

DeSantis declared victory on election night time in 2018, however the race underwent an automated recount since his margin of victory over Democrat Andrew Gillum was lower than 0.5%.

Trump, in his Thursday assertion, precisely famous how DeSantis surged forward of frontrunner Adam Putnam in the 2018 major after getting his endorsement.

In the state’s Senate race that yr, Scott’s victory over Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson was additionally topic to an automated recount. When Scott’s lead started to slim into recount territory, he mentioned he was involved about “rampant fraud.”

“I will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try to steal this election from the people of Florida,” mentioned Scott, who at the time was governor.

That’s also when Trump tweeted, “Law Enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm Beach. Florida voted for Rick Scott!”

State election officials said at the time there was no evidence of any voter fraud.

At the local level, an audit of the 2018 election in Broward County found that the election was a mess, but made no mention of any fraud or federal involvement.

“We conclude that the November 2018 election was not effectively and successfully performed. Backlogs in processing and tabulating Vote-By-Mail ballots delayed election outcomes” and recount “outcomes have been submitted late and rejected by the State,” the audit found, calling for various reforms.

On Thursday, Trump made clear he was outraged that DeSantis has refused to say he won’t run for president in 2024 if Trump does. Trump has repeatedly teased a 2024 presidential run, and recently said he will make a big announcement on Tuesday night, without offering additional details.

“The Fake News asks him if he’s going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, ‘I’m solely targeted on the Governor’s race, I’m not wanting into the future.’ Well, in phrases of loyalty and sophistication, that’s actually not the proper reply,” Trump said in Thursday’s statement. “Ron DeSanctimonious is enjoying video games!”

Ryan J. Reilly, Michael Kosnar, Ken Dilanian and Ali Vitali contributed.