In last night's Democrat Presidential debate a desperate Cory Booker made his fact-free Hail Mary effort to get out of the polling "margin of error” with an outrageous claim on the 2016 election.  As Becket Adams in the Washington Examiner describes it: Cory Booker goes full conspiracist, claims Russia suppressed the black vote in Michigan in 2016.

Sen. Cory Booker went for broke Wednesday at the fourth Democratic debate in Detroit, claiming Republicans and the Kremlin suppressed the African American vote in key states in 2016, costing Hillary Clinton the election.

“Look this is one of those times when we are not staring at the truth and calling it out. And this is a case for the Democratic Party: The truth will set us free,” Booker said. “We lost the state of Michigan because everybody from Republicans to Russians were targeting the suppression of African American voters.”

These claims are false and ludicrous.  First as Becket explains on Russia:

Booker can claim Russian operatives sought to exacerbate racial tensions by targeting African Americans on social media. There is ample reporting to back that claim. It is also true that African American turnout in 2016 was weak overall. But there is nothing to show Russian memes convinced black voters to stay to home on Nov. 8, 2016. There is certainly nothing that allows one to say with any sort of certainty that Russia “suppressed” the black vote. The claim works only if the words "suppressed" and “suppression” no longer mean what they actually mean. . . 

Second, Senator Booker should know better.  There was a huge difference in the 2012 and 2016 races: the candidates.  President Donald Trump was a better candidate than recent Republican nominees.  And as Ari Fleischer tweeted, Barrack Obama was a heck of a lot more popular with African Americans than Hillary Clinton. 

Booker's statement on suppression of the black is 100% bogus. The reason African-American turnout dropped was because Barack Obama was no longer on the ticket. Hillary was. In 2004, blacks were 11% of all voters. 2008=13%. 2012=13%. 2016=12%. Obama inspired higher turnout.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) August 1, 2019

Cory Booker is a desperate candidate and his wild conspiracy theories are signs of that desperation.