In a series of tweets Wednesday, Trump said he would ask federal investigators to look into people who are registered to vote in two states, those in the country illegally and those registered to vote but are deceased.
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President Trump believes he would have won the popular vote in November’s election were it not for all the illegal votes cast.
And during the campaign, Trump endorsed voter identification laws that federal courts have said prevent minorities from voting but Republicans have defended as necessary to prevent in-person voter fraud, which has been shown to be virtually non-existent.
Despite the lack of evidence, Trump has repeatedly claimed he lost the popular vote because 3 million to 5 million “illegals” voted in the November election. Tiffany Trump registered to vote in Philadelphia while attending the University of Pennsylvania.
The Washington Post reported it could find four instances of attempted voter fraud after conducting an analysis of the 2016 election.
Spicer said the president’s assessment was based on “studies” and “evidence that has been presented to him”.
Senator Bernie Sanders has also warned that President Trump could be using the claims in a bid to restrict voting rights. The Republican real estate mogul and reality television star has never substantiated his claim of voter fraud.
Spicer said Trump had seen a study suggesting that 14 percent of people who voted “were non-citizens”.
Investigations and studies by the Department of Justice, government agencies and academics have debunked claims of widespread voter fraud.
Kellyanne Conway and Matt Lauer went head to head over Donald Trump’s claim that three to five million people voted illegally in the election. “It is the most inappropriate thing for the president to say without proof”, Lindsay Graham told CNN later that day.
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“The press made it seem like we were ignoring the facts when the facts are that”, Spicer said. All the more reason to clear the air and have a true, comprehensive investigation, one that includes allegations of voter suppression in places – and whether some voters were incorrectly purged from the registration ranks.
