Indiana Sen. Mike Braun criticizes media for failing to investigate voter fraud

Indiana Sen. Mike Braun wrote a scathing op-ed Wednesday in the Washington Examiner accusing the media of failing to take accusations of voter fraud seriously. 

“The media has fundamentally failed the public by refusing to investigate any question about the integrity of widespread mail-in voting in the 2020 election,” he wrote, “and by dismissing all concern over documented election irregularities as conspiracy theories.”

Braun acknowledged that fraud was unlikely to upend the outcome of the election, but he said individual cases must be thoroughly reviewed. He said that’s crucial, in fact, for most Americans to accept the results.

Braun rejects the idea that President Donald Trump himself is undermining the election by raising claims of widespread voter fraud without offering proof. 

“Asking questions about how millions of mail-in ballots were verified and processed is not sour grapes over an election loss,” Braun wrote. “I agree with President Trump that whomever is affirmed by the Electoral College should take office on Jan. 20. But the broader issue of election integrity is at stake here.”

His opinion comes as Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday there was no widespread, systemic fraud in the Nov. 3 election. The Trump campaign also has lost numerous lawsuits after failing to prove such fraud existed in battleground states. Some judges have issued stinging rebuttals to those claims, including a 3-panel federal appellate court in Pennsylvania writing that simply losing an election does not make it unfair.

Braun told reporters in a media call Wednesday he agrees systemic fraud is unlikely. But he said the media should be concerned about any fraud in elections and has been too quick to dismiss individual cases. 

He said a thorough vetting might prove laws need to be tightened to increase election security. 

“Systemic fraud, widespread, is one thing,” Braun told reporters. “That’s a difficult case probably to make. When you go to the other end of the spectrum and say there is nothing, I think you are being just as oblivious as you might be when you make the other case.”

The past four years, Braun said the media has been one-sided against the president. 

“When you look how aggressively it pursued the president through the day of his inauguration,” Braun said, “through the Mueller report, through impeachment, where it didn’t put any credulity into the originations of the whole Russian connection, let alone the Biden-Ukraine issue, it looks like a hypocritical approach.”

Braun’s comments come about a week after journalist Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame said both Indiana’s senators were among 21 Republicans in the chamber who privately have said they hold Trump in contempt. Both Braun and fellow Hoosier Sen. Todd Young said that report is false. 

Democrats criticize op-ed

Democrats called the op-ed baffling, un-American and performative politics. 

“Sen, Mike Braun is not only endorsing debunked conspiracy theories,” said Indiana Democratic Party spokesman Drew Anderson, “but he’s chucking the Constitution out the window just to keep his politics in check.”

Anderson wondered why Braun and other Republicans aren’t looking for similar cases of fraud in races they won, including for Indiana governor. 

“That’s the precedent Braun is setting with this op-ed,” he said. 

Braun says winner will be picked Dec. 14

Braun said the winner of the election will be picked Dec. 14 when the Electoral College formally votes. Biden is projected to win 306 Electoral College votes to 232 for Trump, based on the states each won. 

Candidates traditionally have conceded long before it gets to that vote. But with Trump continuing to question the results, only a handful of prominent Republicans, including Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and former President George W. Bush, have acknowledged Biden won the election. Braun and Young are not among them. 

Braun said Trump will accept the results after the Electoral College votes. 

“That is when everyone is going to have to say ‘Hey the best effort was made to find this,’” Braun said. “Even President Trump in the White House has said that. Does that mean he will concede, go without causing a ruckus? I don’t know. But I think that’s the turning point, and if you don’t pursue overturning any stone that says there’s something there you will have half the country not satisfied with how the process is done.”

Braun is worried allegations will impact Georgia races

Braun sees another reason to fully investigate claims of fraud. He’s afraid Georgians will decide to boycott that state’s runoff election Jan. 5 if they doubt elections are run fairly. Republicans need to win at least one of two seats to retain control of the Senate. 

While Democrats think Trump himself is stoking fears that undermine the integrity of elections, and causing infighting in the GOP in Georgia, Braun sees it differently. He thinks voters will be confident in the election process if every claim of fraud is fully vetted. 

“For me, and all the effort I’ve made the last 3 to 4 weeks trying to get Hoosiers to help out in the Georgia election,” Braun said, “I can’t even get to the topic, because they are worried.”

Call IndyStar reporter Chris Sikich at 317-444-6036. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisSikich.