Obama pushes back on Trump's comments: "Of course the elections will not be rigged. What does that mean?" https://t.co/z9v1h6howF
— NBC News (@NBCNews) August 4, 2016
During a Pentagon press conference Thursday, President Obama was asked about comments Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made about the election being “rigged.” The president all but rolled his eyes. “I don’t really even know where to start in answering this question,” he replied. “Of course the elections will not be rigged. What does that mean?” He continued:
“The federal government doesn’t run the election process. States and cities and communities all across the country, they’re the ones who set up the voting systems and the voting booths. And if Mr. Trump is suggesting that there’s a conspiracy theory that is being propagated across the country — including in places like Texas, where typically it’s not Democrats who are in charge of voting booths — that’s ridiculous. That’s doesn’t make any sense. I don’t think anybody would take that seriously.”
Donald Trump first told a crowd at a rally in Columbus, Ohio that he worries the election will be rigged. When asked about those comments in an interview with Sean Hannity, Trump referenced precincts where in 2012 “practically nobody [voted] for the Republican.” He then doubled down on his “fears,” told the Fox News host, “we’d better be careful, because that election is going to be rigged. I hope the Republicans are watching closely, or it’s going to be taken away from us.”