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(CNN)Former President Donald Trump on Sunday delivered another avalanche of lies about the 2020 election in a disturbing preview of where Republican energy is parked ahead of next year's midterms.
Speaking to an enthusiastic crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump peddled the same falsehoods that sparked the deadly Capitol insurrection and set off a GOP-led clampdown on voting rights nationwide.
- He lied about election integrity. "We were doing so well until the rigged election happened to come along."
- He lied about about big tech. "The big tech giants worked together to suppress and diminish news coverage that was negative for Joe Biden."
- He lied about election officials. "This was an election where the person that counts the votes was far more important than the candidate."
- He lied about the Justice Department. "They failed to call out the late night ballot stuffing that took place in Georgia."
But the Big Lie has big buy-in. At a gathering branded as "America UnCanceled," Donald Trump Jr. warmed up the crowd on Friday night with quick-witted condemnations of cancel culture and digs at President Joe Biden's son Hunter. But the biggest applause line wasn't even his own. During his speech, an attendee bellowed "Trump won!" eliciting a standing ovation and setting off a round of "Trump" chants.
The refusal to move on has consequences. Echoing Trump's falsehoods, state lawmakers have enacted nearly 30 laws since the 2020 election that restrict ballot access, according to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. Read more here.
Texas Republicans want to be next. GOP lawmakers in the state are mounting another push for restrictive voting laws during a 30-day special legislative session that Gov. Greg Abbott says he wants to see focused in part on "election integrity."
Felony voting back in the spotlight. A Texas man who told CNN he waited for "over six hours" at a polling center in Houston to participate in Super Tuesday last year was arrested and charged with two felony counts of illegal voting. He now faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
