The candidate for the presidential nomination of the Republican Party and the governor of Florida Ron Desantis said that his rival Donald Trump lost the election in 2020, after avoiding to directly answer the question for years, Voice of America reports.
"Of course he lost. Joe Biden is the president," Desantis said in an interview with NBC News that was published Monday.
Desantis has often dodged questions about whether he believes the 2020 election results were legitimate. However, in recent days, he publicly began to question the inaccurate claims of Trump and his allies about the outcome of the presidential election.
Federal and state election officials and Trump's attorney general said there was no evidence of election fraud. Courts have also rejected Trump's claims, including judges he himself appointed.
Justice Department special prosecutor Jack Smith last Sunday filed a four-count indictment against the former president for efforts to overturn the 2020 results, ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, violent riots sparked by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
Desantis changed his rhetoric about the election as he tries to revive the campaign for the presidential nomination. Trump is the current and overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination for the 2024 election.
During the interview, Desantis first did not clearly answer the question of whether Trump lost, stating that "the winner is the one who puts his hand on the Bible on January 20th every four years."
However, he gave a more precise answer after the reporter continued to ask him the same question.
He reiterated his concerns about voting methods in 2020, especially when it comes to voting by mail, but like other Republicans, he said he would still accept the methods he criticized.
Studies have shown that voting by mail increases turnout, but does not favor a particular party.
"The problem is that people in the media and elsewhere want to act like it was a perfect election. I don't think it was a well-run election, but the Republicans didn't fight. You have to fight when that happens," Desantis said.
Desantis presents himself as a candidate who can more successfully implement Trump's policies, but he did not criticize the former president much.
Last month, he assessed that Trump should have condemned the attack on Congress on January 6 more strongly, but that it was not a riot but a protest "that ended in an unfortunate way."
The Florida governor also argued that Republicans will lose the election if they focus on the past election and Trump's legal problems, which include an indictment for withholding classified presidential documents.
"If the election is a referendum on Joe Biden's policies and the failures we've seen, and if we present a positive vision of the future, we will win. On the other hand, if the election is not on January 20, 2025 (the inauguration of the president), but on January 6, 2021 or about what document was found in the toilet at Mar-a-Lago, if there is a referendum on that, then we will lose," said Desantis.
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