Trump marks anniversary of election defeat by praising Arizona ‘auditors’ and repeating false fraud claims

Authorities in the state have said that the audit actually found 99 more votes for Joe Biden and 261 fewer votes for the former president

Donald Trump has marked the anniversary of his election defeat by praising Arizona “auditors” and repeating his false fraud claims.

The one-term president president thanked Republicans in the state for their work in “finding all of the fraud and all of the irregularities” in their forensic audit of 2.1m votes in Maricopa County.

Authorities in the state have said that the audit by Mr Trump’s allies actually found 99 more votes for Joe Biden and 261 fewer votes for the former president.

Mr Trump’s supporters had pushed for the audit in the hope that it would support his thoroughly debunked “Big Lie” claims that he was robbed of a second term in the White House due to widespread fraud at the ballot box.

“It was a very sad day for our country, it was a very sad election,” complained Mr Trump in the video, which was posted on Twitter by his chief spokesperson Liz Harrington.

Mr Trump also repeated his endorsement for former TV news anchor Kari Lake, who is running for governor in 2022.

Multiple Republicans are aiming to replace Republican Governor Doug Ducey, who has served two consecutive terms in Arizona and is not eligible for re-election.

Mr Trump has continued to falsely claim he won Arizona, and has attacked Mr Ducey for not supporting that position.

Arizona voted in favour of Mr Trump in the 2016 presidential election but swung for Mr Biden in 2022, the first time in decades that a Democratic nominee has won the state.

Mr Biden won Arizona by around 10,000 votes, which was confirmed by a hand recount.

He also won Maricopa County, which includes the city of Phoenix, by around 45,000 votes, which was critical in helping him defeat Mr Trump and claiming the state’s 11 electoral college votes.