“We have to be clear on this: as of this moment, there is no actual evidence of wrongdoing or fraud in the process,” he told host Chris Wallace. “If there is, it will get rooted out and identified aggressively.”

Pawlenty also admitted that widespread reports of joy-riding ballots — which the governor helped to legitimize — were a myth. “There was a news report in Minnesota that the ballot- in-the-trunk story has now been retracted, that it wasn’t accurate,” he said.