Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) echoed the vote-buying allegations made by former President Donald Trump, and alleged on CNN that it was "clear that there's vote-buying going on at a scale like we have never seen before."
The statement of Burgum was given in response to questions concerning the allegations of Trump in Florida during a donor retreat program, where the former President claimed that a number of Americans "get welfare to vote," thereby implying that assistance programs by the government are being used by the present administration to have an upper-hand in the elections.
Burgum did not explicitly say that those who receive government assistance are also being bribed to vote, unlike Trump who mentioned that the Democrats were using "welfare," in order to earn votes from the public. The North Dakota official, however, said that Pres. Joe Biden's act of forgiving student loan for millions of Americans is actually tantamount to vote-buying, Forbes reported.
"You start trying to give away hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money, and it's not even — it's like we're borrowing to give it away. It's not tax and spend. It's borrow, borrow from the Chinese, and give it away," he narrated.
"Citizens understand those are like free election payoffs. Those are like 'Hey, folks, please vote for us because we're relieving your debt. At what point does it cross over from programs like student debt (forgiveness) to just vote-buying," added Burgum, in a Politico report.
Burgum was interviewed on "State of the Union" and answered questions by its host Jake Tapper, including those concerning the criminal trial of Trump.
Regarded by many as the one poised to be vice presidential pick of Trump, Burgum also defended the former President on matters relating to the trial, saying that if Trump would be convicted, then it would be a "travesty of justice."
"If it was anybody else, this trial wouldn't even be happening," Burgum said in defense of Trump.
Trump, aside from accusing Biden's administration of vote buying in his Florida speech, also called the present administration as a "Gestapo administration."
"These people are running a Gestapo administration, and it's the only thing they have, and it's the only way they're going to win," the former President said.
"But it doesn't bother me," he further added.
In the same almost 90-minute speech, Trump relentlessly hit Democrats, talked about his golf game, and underscored that he was doing well in polls. He also accused the White House as the one that orchestrated the cases against him.
