Eric Trump promotes fake video of ballots on fire in Virginia Beach

Video from Virginia Beach which appeared to show ballots being destroyed was shared by Eric Trump, despite officials insisting it was false

Eric Trump’s tweet of burning ballots was flagged by Twitter as being untrue ((Getty Images))

Donald Trump’s son Eric has been criticised by local officials in Virginia for sharing an incendiary video online which he claimed showed ballots for his father being destroyed.

Eric posted the video to his 4.4 million followers on Wednesday at 3:40pm, saying: “Burning 80 Trump Ballots.”

The video, which has since been deleted, showed what looked like ballots going up in flames.

At 5pm, city officials in Virginia Beach, where the video was filmed, released a statement saying the video did not show what Eric suggested, and offering photographic evidence to back their claim.

“A concerned citizen shared a video with us that ostensibly shows someone burning ballots,” the statement read. “They are NOT official ballots, they are sample ballots.”

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The city also released a freeze frame image of the alleged ballot-burning video next to a photo of the official ballots.

“Note the absence of the bar code markings that are on all official ballots,” officials wrote.

The ballots in the video show the names of the candidates running for federal offices, as well as mayor, city council and school board seats in Virginia Beach.

Fire investigators are now looking into the illegal burning, the city said.

An official Twitter account for the city of Virginia Beach responded to Eric: “Those were sample ballots. Addressed this yesterday.”

The account that first posted the video has now been suspended.

The president and his allies, as expected, have repeatedly claimed electoral fraud since Tuesday’s vote.

Mr Trump has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, and said they will request a recount in Wisconsin.

On Thursday morning a judge in Georgia dismissed the Trump campaign’s case, which had alleged that 53 ballots in Chatham County arrived after the deadline. The Republican witness who alleged the illegal process, however, provided no evidence and, when asked how he knew they arrived late, said he did not know for sure.

A judge in Michigan is currently considering the case filed by the Trump campaign in their jurisdiction.