ICYMI: Attorney General Accused Multiple Times of Spreading “Baseless” Claims and “Unsupported” Allegations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 18, 2023
CONTACT
hadley@montanademocrats.org
Austin Knudsen Caught in Lies About Local Election Officials; Reproductive Health Care
Helena, MT – It’s been a tough week for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen. Montanans across the state are reading that Knudsen was caught telling lies about local Montana election officials and Planned Parenthood of Montana, as first reported by the Montana Free Press – not once but twice.
“Austin Knudsen should be ashamed of the blatant, bad-faith lies he’s told Montanans on issues as important as election integrity and human trafficking,” said Sheila Hogan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party. “Montanans deserve honesty from their elected officials – not politicians who will stoop to shameless lows in order to try and win an election.”
AG Knudsen spread a decade-old and disproven conspiracy theory that Planned Parenthood of Montana was violating state law and engaging in human trafficking – a baseless attack on health care providers and centers that Montanans rely on for care.
Knudsen made these wild allegations on a right-wing radio show on July 31st. (He went on to say that his office didn’t have the staffing capacity to “look into” his baseless accusations.)
On the same right-wing radio show, Knudsen also made entirely “unsupported” accusations of voter fraud. He claimed that local election officials “stonewalled” so-called state investigations of voter misconduct. As the Montana Free Press reported, there have been no such “state investigations.” When asked which “investigations” he was referring to, a spokesperson for the Attorney General responded, “looking into it is not something we have time to do for you.”
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