AP FACT CHECK: Trump's flailing effort resting on mendacity

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's flailing attempt to cling to office after voters decisively chose to oust him has taken the country into a dark and fictional place.

According to falsehoods being told on his behalf and embraced by him, the U.S. election was manipulated by scheming from a dead Venezuelan strongman, by a computer system capable of flipping Trump votes to Joe Biden ones across the country, and by something weird happening in Germany. If that's not enough, the communists are coming.

None of this happened. None of it is true.

But Trump and his legal team are making poisonous allegations in hopes that state Republican legislators will shatter the foundational procedures and traditions of U.S. democracy and nullify the voters' will.

While this plays out, President-elect Biden continues to be denied the briefings and facilities given during presidential transitions. An increasing number of Republican lawmakers say he should be getting that cooperation but they haven't done anything to make that happen.

From the past week:

THE TWEETS

TRUMP: “I WON THE ELECTION! ... I won the Election! ... I WON THE ELECTION!” — tweets Sunday, Monday and Wednesday.

THE FACTS: No, Biden won the election.

Biden achieved victory in key states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona, topping the threshold of 270 electoral votes to clinch the presidency with room to spare.

Biden also won Georgia after a recount by hand this past week. That gives him 306 electoral votes, a total that Trump called a “landslide” when states delivered him that number in 2016. (Trump ended up with 304 electoral votes because two electors defected.)

Trump’s allegations of massive voting fraud have been dismissed by a succession of judges and refuted by state election...