LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico State University professor has been traveling to advocate for audits of the 2020 presidential election amid a paid suspension for rejecting coronavirus health mandates from the school.
The Las Cruces Sun News reports that the public university on Aug. 27 extended its emergency suspension of professor David Clements. Several complaints were received from students after Clements rejected campus mask and vaccination mandates.
The university requires students and staff to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or provide test results for the virus on a weekly basis. Its indoor mask mandate mirrors the New Mexico public health orders.
Through a social media account on the Telegram platform, Clements has documented his travels to advocate for further audits of the 2020 presidential election, while alleging widespread election fraud and referring to former President Donald Trump as “the real president.”
Clements could not be reached for comment on Sunday. The Sun News reported that he declined to speak with the newspaper unless it was for an unedited video interview with a required reading list in advance.
Clements indicated through Telegram postings that he is confronting possible disbarment as an attorney in New Mexico and has been blocked from service by some commercial airlines.
Trump’s allegations of widespread election fraud have been dismissed by judges and refuted by state election officials, an arm of his own administration’s Homeland Security Department and his own attorney general.