Republican at Center of Massive Electoral Fraud Scandal Insists He Knew Nothing

The North Carolina Republican who won the state’s now-infamous Ninth Congressional District election—which has been marred by widespread allegations of fraud on his behalf—has finally spoken.

In an 83-second video posted on Friday afternoon, U.S. House Rep.-elect Mark Harris agreed to comply with any investigations into election fraud—not voter fraud!—in the district’s general election in November, or any other election. Harris claimed that he was “absolutely unaware of any wrongdoing,” but agreed that if any significant election fraud is proven, he would “wholeheartedly support a new election.”

The statement was the first time Harris has spoken publicly about the fiasco that’s produced an unending stream of updates since the story broke a week ago.

On Thursday night, Harris’ opponent, Democrat Dan McCready, released his own video, in which he retracted his concession and called on Harris to reveal “exactly what he knew and when he knew it.” The pair will now await the results of the North Carolina State Board of Elections investigation, which has published thousands of new documents about the scandal.

The board—made up of four Democrats, four Republicans, and an unaffiliated member—voted unanimously against certifying the district’s election two times at the end of November. The investigation is presently targeting the Red Dome Group, a firm hired by the Harris campaign that contracted Leslie McCrae Dowless, who is alleged to have ran an operation that paid people to collect absentee ballots from North Carolina voters in the district.

Just 15 minutes after Harris’s announcement, the board published a statement announcing it had issued subpoenas for documents to the Red Dome Group, the Mark Harris for Congress Committee, and the James Atlas McVicker Committee. It also confirmed that Dowless is a person of interest in the case. According to WSOC’s Allison Latos, the FBI has also offered to assist the State Bureau of Investigations.

If you have any information about what’s become a bizarre and troubling case of apparent organized election fraud, email us.