Trump, who offered no evidence for his claims, said that he would have won the popular votes in the U.S. general election “if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally”.
“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 said in a first of the series of tweets last evening.
He alleged that serious voter fraud were committed in three States of Virginia, New Hampshire and California where he lost.
Clinton ahead by 2 million votes
The allegation by Trump, who won the required votes in the Electoral College to secure the presidency, comes as Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s lead in the popular vote over Trump has surpassed 2 million votes and is expected to grow to more than 2.5 million as ballots in populous states such as California continue to be tallied.
Clinton has 232 electoral college votes in her kitty as against 270 required to be declared as elected.
The Republican billionaire’s allegations came as steps are being taken towards recounting of votes in the swing state of Wisconsin, which Trump won.
Earlier he described an impending recount of votes in Wisconsin as a “scam” and said the results of the presidential election should be respected instead of being challenged or “abused“.
“Serious voter fraud, serious bias”
“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 states instead of the 15 states that I visited. I would have won even more easily and convincingly (but smaller states are forgotten)!” Trump said in another tweet.
Soon he fired another tweet alleging voters fraud in three States.
“Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California — so why isn’t the media reporting on this? Serious bias — big problem!” Trump said.
It’s an unprecedented allegation by a president-elect.
Media says allegations are baseless
This is the first time he has alleged voter fraud in his own victory, however, neither he nor the campaign explained the reasons for such an allegation or if they have any evidence of it.
The Washington Post described the allegations as baseless, while The New York Times said the claims are unsubstantiated.
The Presidential Transition Team did not respond to a question in this regard.
“Donald J Trump made the unsubstantiated claim during a series of Twitter posts in which he railed against a push for a recount in three states,” the New York Times reported.
Trump taking up the social media with a flood of tweets — nearly a dozen — comes a day after the Clinton Campaign said that it would join the Green Party efforts towards recounting of votes in three States of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Trump won all these three states but by a narrow margin.
Source:The Hindu
No comments:
Write comments