Campaign

Trump claims voter fraud without evidence, says ‘I won the popular vote’

by Mallory Shelbourne - 11/27/16 4:07 PM ET

President-elect Donald Trump declared Sunday he would have won the popular vote if “illegal” votes were discounted.

{mosads}“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

It would have been much easier for me to win the so-called popular vote than the Electoral College in that I would only campaign in 3 or 4–

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

states instead of the 15 states that I visited. I would have won even more easily and convincingly (but smaller states are forgotten)!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

The president-elect also tweeted that he would have won more easily if he had based his campaign strategy on winning the popular vote, instead of visiting states with a larger number of Electoral College votes.

Trump’s second series of tweets Sunday came as Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein’s campaign said it would file for a recount in Michigan and Pennsylvania, after making an effort in Wisconsin official. All three states are traditionally blue states that Trump won.

Trump’s claim of voter fraud drew immediate criticism from social media, with some mocking him and others pointing out the lack of evidence supporting his claim of illegal voting.

President Trump also wants the vote of Snuffleupagus retracted. Doesn’t exist! Sad! https://t.co/KdG3SEGseC

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) November 27, 2016

We will have a Conspiracy Theorist in charge of our government, our military and our nuclear arsenal. What could possibly go wrong? https://t.co/k8zCfVVzuo

— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) November 27, 2016

Guess we should have a recount @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/V0gtIiTA16

— Julianne Moore (@_juliannemoore) November 27, 2016

ah there it is: “Three million votes in the U.S. presidential election were cast by illegal aliens” — Alex Jones. https://t.co/DslirpOrHR

— Colin Campbell (@colincampbell) November 27, 2016

Internet fact-checker Snopes has said the claim that 3 million noncitizens voted illegally, which has been pushed by controversial Infowars radio host Alex Jones, is unproven.

Earlier on Sunday, Trump predicted that the recount effort in three states will not change the results of the election.

“Hillary Clinton conceded the election when she called me just prior to the victory speech and after the results were in. Nothing will change,” he tweeted.

Clinton’s campaign is participating in the Wisconsin recount, which is set to begin later this week.

Clinton is currently leading Trump by more than 2 million in the popular vote. Politicians, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have called for an examination of using the Electoral College to decide who wins the presidency, rather than the popular vote.

Trump warned during his campaign that the election could be rigged, though election officials scoffed at the claim, noting the country’s use of a decentralized system in which ballots are counted by thousands of Democratic and Republican officials across the country.

The group of election lawyers and computer scientists pushing the recount effort said election results in the three states could have been manipulated or hacked.

However, there is no evidence of millions of people voting illegally, as Trump suggested on Twitter.