Witness in Donald Trump's voter fraud case mocked online

Melissa Carone.
Melissa Carone. Photo credit: Twitter

One of US President Donald Trump's star witnesses in his legal cases alleging voter fraud in the US election has been mocked online for her combative approach to giving testimony.

Melissa Carone, a self-professed "whistleblower", appeared in front of a judge in Michigan during a four-hour hearing on Wednesday, addressing unverified allegations from the Republican Party of fraudulent ballots, People reported.

She was joined by Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani who has been trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Among her unverified accusations, Carone claimed thousands of ballots in Michigan were counted "nine to 10 times", that "dead people" and "illegals" were found to have voted and that poll books used to maintain voter information were inaccurate, People reported.

"That poll book is completely off," Carone told Republican Rep Steven Johnson.

"By 30,000?" he replied.

"I'd say that poll book is off by over 100,000," she said.

Carone appeared to be disbelief when Johnson told her that the panel 

hadn't seen evidence to back up her claims.

"You take a look again. Take a look again," she told him.

"I know what I saw. And I signed something saying if I'm wrong, I can go to prison. Did you?"

Carone's also claimed that the turnout rate in Detroit was 120 per cent, while the actual rate was about 50 per cent, with 251,138 of the city's 504,714 registered voters casting ballots.

At one point in the proceedings, Giuliani can be seen attempting to calm her.

Carone's testimony had already been ruled as "not credible" after she previously submitted an affidavit but the Republicans had chosen to still put her forward during the trial.

The Daily Mail has also reported Carone only finished probation a few months ago for committing computer crime.

They reported she was sentenced to 12 months of probation for the offence in September 2019, stemming from an incident in November 2018.

Footage from the hearing has been widely shared online, with commenters saying it shows the ridiculousness of Trump's legal efforts to change the results.

"Still not convinced this isn't an SNL [Saturday Night Live] character," one commenter wrote.

"Could've sworn I knew her from every retail gig I worked.

"When they finished listening to... all of that, the Michigan Republicans at the hearing thought, or at least pretended to think, that she was remotely believable! Just incredible."

Another said: "She was the ONLY witness Trump's legal team could find?"

"Is she drunk?" another asked.

"Is this really the best witness the Trump legal team could find?"