On Sunday's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, there was a substantial contrast between the treatment of Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings and White House advisor Stephen Miller when it came to charges of massive voting irregularities.
After host George Stephanopoulos got into a heated exchange with Miller as he repeatedly pressed the Donald Trump advisor about claims of voter fraud, Maryland Democrat Rep. Cummings received no pushback whatsoever when he claimed that millions were denied the right to vote because of voter ID laws.
In the last four minutes of an 18-minute segment with Miller, Stephanopoulos brought up recent claims by President Donald Trump that there was voter fraud in New Hampshire, and the ABC host read a tweet from a member of the Federal Election Commission and asked if his guest had "evidence" of such illegal activity.
For the rest of the segment, as Miller failed to satisfy the host's demands for evidence of thousands of illegal votes in New Hampshire or of millions in the U.S. generally, Stephanopoulos repeatedly pressed him in a back and forth.
After a commercial break, in the very next segment, Stephanopoulos ended by asking Cummings for his reaction to Miller's assertions about illegal voting. The Maryland Democrat made typical complaints from the left about voter IDs laws making it harder for minorities to vote, but ended up estimating a substantial number as running in the millions who were supposedly unable to vote in spite of free voter IDs being offered to voters. Here's Cummings:
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Yeah, come on, George, we know that this voter fraud thing is almost minuscule. And my argument has always been, look, we've got North Carolina, for example, surgically, according to the court, tried to stop African-Americans and others from voting. And we look at a state like Arizona, people standing in line five hours after the polls closed. Intentionally, these local parties and state parties are doing this.
Again, there are millions of people, I'm sure, who have not been able to vote that should be able to vote. Take a look at that. If you're going to do anything on voter fraud and anything about rigging an election, take a look at that. That's what I've been saying, and I hope the President will do that.
The ABC host gave no indication of wondering how his Democratic guest arrived at his number as he merely wrapped up the segment: "Congressman Cummings, thanks for joining us this morning."
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of the Sunday, February 12, This Week with George Stephanopoulos on ABC:
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me move on now to the question of voter fraud as well. President Trump began this week suggesting in a meeting with Senators that thousands of illegal voters were bused from Massachusetts to New Hampshire and that's what caused his defeat in the state of New Hampshire, also the defeat of Senator Kelly Ayotte. That has provoked a response from a member of the Federal Election Commission -- Ellen Weintraub -- who says, "I call upon the President to immediately to share New Hampshire voter fraud evidence so that his allegations may be investigated promptly." Do you have that evidence?
[STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR]
STEPHANOPOULOS: You can't make a -- hold on a second. You just claimed again that there was illegal voting in New Hampshire from people bused in from the state of Massachusetts. Do you have any evidence to back that up?
[MILLER]
STEPHANOPOULOS: I'm asking you as the White House senior policy -- hold on a second -- I'm asking you as the senior White House policy advisor, the President made a statement saying he was the victim of voter fraud, people being bused from Massachusetts to New Hampshire. Do you have any evidence?
[MILLER]
STEPHANOPOULOS: Just for the record, you have provided absolutely no evidence. The President's has made a statement-
[MILLER]
STEPHANOPOULOS: You just repeated the -- you just made those declarations, but, for the record, you have provided zero evidence that the President was the victim of massive voter fraud in New Hampshire. You have provided zero evidence -- hold on -- you have provided zero evidence that the President's claim that he would have won the popular vote if three to five million illegal immigrants hadn't voted -- zero evidence for either one of those claims. Thanks a lot for joining us this morning.
[MILLER]
STEPHANOPOULOS: You can start by providing evidence to back up your claims. Thanks for joining us this morning.
(...)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, on the issue of voter fraud, you heard Mr. Miller there as well, did not provide evidence to back up the President's claims about New Hampshire or the popular vote overall, but he does say that improper registration is now a scandal of outrageous proportions. Do you intend to take a look at it?
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D-MD): Yeah, come on, George, we know that this voter fraud thing is almost minuscule. And my argument has always been, look, we've got North Carolina, for example, surgically, according to the court, tried to stop African-Americans and others from voting. And we look at a state like Arizona, people standing in line five hours after the polls closed. Intentionally, these local parties and state parties are doing this. Again, there are millions of people, I'm sure, who have not been able to vote that should be able to vote. Take a look at that. If you're going to do anything on voter fraud and anything about rigging an election, take a look at that. That's what I've been saying, and I hope the President will do that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman Cummings, thanks for joining us this morning.
