Fox News host Tucker Carlson is apologizing on-air for claims made by the Trump campaign and amplified by Carlson’s show regarding the vote count in Georgia. The Trump campaign’s claim stems from a press release and tweet naming “four deceased people” that allegedly cast votes in 2020.
According to Forbes, Thursday’s episode of Carlson’s show opened with discussion of the Trump campaign’s allegations. The host singled out James Blalock and Linda Kessler in Georgia, two of the alleged deceased voters that Carlson told viewers, “we can prove” were victims of voter fraud.
Videos by PopCulture.com
President Trump’s campaign accused four Georgia voters of fraud. Said they voted ‘dead’ in the presidential election. We tracked two of them down, alive & well. We simply knocked on a door and 96-year-old Mrs. James Blalock answered. @11AliveNews https://t.co/n9dLA70jJB pic.twitter.com/10cbPJTXB0
— Brendan Keefe (@BrendanKeefe) November 13, 2020
“In moments like this, truth really matters more than ever,” Carlson said on Thursday, according to Forbes. “False allegations of fraud can cause as much damage as the fraud itself.” Carlson also went on to detail the Blalock case, labeled an opinion by the network.
“Mr. Blalock was a mailman for 33 years until he passed away in 2006. Fourteen years later, according to state records, he was still mailing things. James Blalock cast a ballot in last week’s election,” Carlson said. But according to 11 Alive in Atlanta (via Forbes), the late Mr. Blalock did not vote. His wife, who case a vote as Mrs. James Blalock, did and is very much alive.
“Her voter registration was signed as Mrs. James E. Blalock, Jr. and that is exactly how she signed her name when she voted in the Nov. 3 general election,” Georgia election officials told 11 Alive. The outlet reported similar about Kessler, with the board of elections clearing up the confusion.
“Linda Kesler of Nicholson was marked deceased in 2003 and did not vote. Lynda Kesler who has a different address, birthday, and zip who is entitled to vote—did vote,” officials said. 11 Alive adds that the Secretary of State in Georgia was looking into other allegations, but half named by the Trump campaign legally voted and committed no fraud.
Tucker Carlson issues a correction and gives an apology after falsely claiming that a deceased individual had voted in Georgia.
He goes on to assert that he was correct, however, about other dead voters even though the other report he mentioned was debunked as well. pic.twitter.com/wXTFWFRIUK
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) November 14, 2020
The revelations led to Carlson apologizing on his Friday episode for the mistake, though still claiming that dead people did vote in the election. “One of the people who voted in last week’s election isn’t dead. James Blalock is still dead, we told you about him. But it was his wife who voted. “She voted as Mrs. James Blalock. It’s old-fashioned and we missed it,” Carlson explained. “A whole bunch of dead people did vote, we showed you their names, we proved it – but James Blalock was not among them…So apologies for that. Of course, we’re always going to correct when we’re wrong. And we were.”
Donald Trump’s campaign continues to claim voter fraud in the 2020 election is widespread, launching lawsuits in states like Pennsylvania and Georgia where Joe Biden upset Trump. The president has yet to concede the election to Biden despite many networks, including Fox News, naming the former VP as President-elect.
