RNC chairman defends Trump after refusal to say he’d accept election results

by Rebecca Savransky - 10/23/16 10:51 AM ET

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday defended Donald Trump after the GOP nominee refused to say during the third presidential debate of 2016 that he would accept the results of the presidential election.

{mosads}”What I think the media is missing here, is that to ask a candidate three weeks before the election if they lose, are they going to concede, asking for a concession speech, no one does that,” Priebus said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“And I think, if it’s a close election, look, if you lose by 200 votes in Florida, are you going to concede on election night if you’re at 260 electoral votes?”

Trump during the debate said he would “look at it at the time” when asked if he would accept the results of the presidential election.

“The media is so dishonest and so corrupt and the pile on is so amazing, The New York Times wrote an article about it. They don’t even care, it’s so dishonest. They’ve poisoned the minds of the voters, but unfortunately for them, I think the voters are seeing through it.”

Trump said he’ll keep Americans in “suspense.”

“What he is saying is he wants to reserve all options, and if there is grounds for a recount, I will exercise my options,” Priebus said on Sunday.

“He is not willing to not concede if he loses and there is no fraud.”

Priebus said Trump wants to make sure his supporters look out for fraud.

The RNC chairman also criticized the media for the way it has covered the presidential race.

“I think if you’re Donald Trump and you see the barrage and the media enclosing on every single thing this guy does, no matter what it is. He eats cornflakes in the morning and CNN or another cable show, MSNBC, is talking about it 24 hours a day,” Priebus said.

“If you look at Hillary Clinton, what she got away with on this email scandal.”

Priebus noted that he thinks the GOP nominee is going to win the election. He contrasted the record of Trump with that of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and reiterated that the RNC is “of course” behind Trump.

“She was tried and tested. She failed,” Priebus said of Clinton. “She’s too risky for this country. That’s why she’s going to lose.”

Tags Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Sunday shows