Giuliani's baseless voter-fraud conspiracy theories helped bring about Georgia's restrictive voting law, lieutenant governor says

• A top Georgia official said Rudy Giuliani's voter-fraud claims helped prompt the new voting law.
• Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan noted that Giuliani argued extensively that there was mass voter fraud.
• Duncan, who opposes the new law, suggested that this helped cement enthusiasm for stricter rules.

A top Republican official in Georgia told CNN that Rudy Giuliani's conspiracy theories about mass voter fraud helped create the momentum for the state's new voter restrictions.

"This is really the fallout from the 10 weeks of misinformation that flew in from former President Donald Trump," Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said in an interview Wednesday of new voting restrictions in Georgia.

"I went back over the weekend to really look at where this really started to gain momentum in the legislature, and it was when Rudy Giuliani showed up in a couple of committee rooms and spent hours spreading misinformation and sowing doubt across, you know, hours of testimony."

Duncan previously criticized the legislation, saying in a late-March interview, "I don't think it was the best move forward."

The bill was signed into law last month by Gov. Brian Kemp, who says its guards against fraud are less restrictive than voting laws in some states run by Democrats.

-New Day (@NewDay) March 29, 2021

Duncan's remarks highlight the enduring influence of the debunked claim by former President Donald Trump and his allies that the 2020 election was stolen from him as a result of mass voter fraud.

The claim and other related ones were rejected in a series of court challenges by the Trump campaign and have twice been dismissed by the Supreme Court.

Giuliani played a key role in pushing the election-fraud claims and visited Georgia in December as part of a pressure campaign to get state officials to overturn Joe Biden's victory in the state.

Kemp was subjected to social-media attacks by Trump and his allies when he refused to attempt to follow Trump's orders to try to cancel Biden's victory.

Giuliani is facing a $1.3 billion lawsuit from the voting-machine company Dominion Voting Systems, which he baselessly claimed switched thousands of votes in Georgia as part of a plot to ensure Biden's victory.