Trump is continuing to call for a major investigation into voter fraud, as he stands by his lies about the 2016 election—despite the fact that his claims have been widely debunked by experts. Trump is falsely claiming that he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton because of 3 to 5 million unauthorized votes cast in the election. This is Trump speaking in his first televised interview as president, with ABC’s David Muir.
David Muir: “When you say, in your opinion, millions of illegal votes, that is something that is extremely fundamental to our functioning democracy, a fair and free election.”
President Donald Trump: “Sure. Sure. Sure.”
David Muir: “You say you’re going to launch an investigation into this.”
President Donald Trump: “Sure, done.”
David Muir: “What you have presented so far has been debunked. It’s been called false.”
President Donald Trump: “No, it hasn’t. Take a look at the Pew reports.”
David Muir: “I called the author of the Pew report last night. And he told me that they found no evidence of voter fraud.”
President Donald Trump: “Really? Then why did he write the report?”
While experts have found no evidence to support Trump’s lies about widespread voter fraud, they have found at least five members of Trump’s family members or inner circle were registered to vote in multiple states—something that Trump has claimed is evidence of voter fraud. The Washington Post reports Trump’s son-in-law and close White House adviser Jared Kushner, Trump’s daughter Tiffany Trump, Trump’s chief strategist Stephen Bannon, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin were all registered to vote in two different states. We’ll have more on Trump’s voter fraud claims later in the broadcast.