Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
The White House on Tuesday stuck firmly to President Donald Trump’s claim that millions of people voted illegally in the November election, but provided no evidence to back up his assertion.
Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the president “does believe” that he lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton only because of widespread illegal ballots.
“He believes what he believes, based on the information he was provided,” Spicer said. But he would not detail what information he was referring to, citing only a 2008 study that called for updating voter rolls but did not conclude there has been pervasive election fraud.
All 50 states and the District of Columbia have finalized their election results with no reports of the kind of widespread fraud that Trump is alleging.
If the president’s claim were true, it would mark the most significant election fraud in U.S. history – and ironically, would raise the same questions about Trump’s legitimacy that he’s trying to avoid. Yet Spicer repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether the Trump administration would investigate the allegations pushed by the president.
“Anything is possible,” he said.
Spicer, who spent several years at the Republican National Committee before joining the White House, would not say whether he shared the president’s belief.
Trump first raised the prospect of illegal voting during the transition. Then, during a reception with lawmakers at the White House on Monday evening, he again claimed that he’d lost the popular vote because 3 million to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally had voted. That’s according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
Trump’s assertion appears to be part of a continuing pattern for him and his new administration in which falsehoods overshadow his outreach efforts. Both Trump and Spicer made false comments over the weekend about the crowds who gathered for the inauguration.
Aides and associates of the president say that he is dogged by insecurity over his loss of the popular vote and believes Democrats and the media are questioning the legitimacy of his presidency. On Tuesday, the president tweeted a photograph from the inauguration taken from an angle that accentuated the crowd and said he planned to hang the image in the press area of the White House.
Trump has packed his first days in office with meetings with business leaders and lawmakers. He’s also moved to unravel former President Barack Obama’s legacy, including signing orders Tuesday to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. Both projects had been blocked by the Obama administration.
Besides taking steps to advance construction of the oil pipelines, subject to renegotiation of the agreements, Trump also signed a notice requiring the materials for the pipelines be constructed in the United States, though it was unclear how he planned to enforce the measure.
Trump has sought to focus his first full week in office on jobs and the economy. Republicans, as well as some unions, have cited the pipeline projects as prime opportunities for job growth.
On Tuesday, Trump summoned the heads of the big three American automakers, General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler, for a breakfast meeting. He pledged to scrap regulations and reduce taxes on corporations that keep jobs in the U.S., though he did not specify his plans for either.
His administration, he said, will “go down as one of the most friendly countries” for business.