Trump administration pushes lie that millions of illegal immigrants voted

The democratically elected president of the United States of America believes three to five million people committed voter fraud — a lie — his press secretary said on Tuesday.

White House says Trump stands by voter fraud belief
President Donald Trump stands by his belief that millions of people voted illegally in the U.S. election, White House spokesman Sean Spicer says, but offered no evidence to support the contention. (Reuters)

WASHINGTON—Promoting yet another lie, the chief spokesman for U.S. President Donald Trump said Trump believes millions of illegal immigrants voted illegally in the presidential election.

This did not happen.

There were fewer than a dozen claims of voter fraud across the country. But Trump, sensitive about defeated Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton having received more votes than him, repeated the nonsensical claim in a private meeting with congressional leaders on Monday.

Asked Tuesday if Trump indeed believes it, press secretary Sean Spicer said yes — “based on studies and evidence that have been presented to him,” though there is no evidence at all.

“I think the president has believed that for a while based on studies and information he has,” Spicer said from a podium at the White House.

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In an apparent contradiction, Spicer also said Trump believes an election involving millions of supposed fraudulent votes was fair. He would not commit to an investigation into a supposed fraud of historic proportions, saying Trump was “comfortable” with the outcome.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters the U.S. president believes in widespread voter fraud “based on studies and evidence that have been presented to him,” but offered no evidence to support the widely debunked lie.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters the U.S. president believes in widespread voter fraud “based on studies and evidence that have been presented to him,” but offered no evidence to support the widely debunked lie.  (Susan Walsh / AP)  

It was yet another instance of Trump and his team promoting a conspiracy theory to suit his political purposes. Voting rights advocates have been especially concerned about his regular lies on the subject of voter fraud, which they fear will be used to justify an attempt to make it more difficult to cast ballots.

'No Evidence' of Trump's voter fraud claim, Paul Ryan says
As the White House on Tuesday stuck firmly to President Donald Trump's claim that millions of people voted illegally in the November election, the Republican Speaker of the House said he's seen "no evidence to that effect."(The Associated Press )

House Speaker Paul Ryan, a fellow Republican, said Tuesday that he has seen “no evidence” to suggest major voter fraud.

“And I’ve made that very, very clear,” he told reporters.

In a telling moment, Spicer would not say if he personally believes what Trump is saying.

The Washington Post and other outlets reported that Trump claimed at this Monday meeting that he would have won the popular vote if not for three to five million illegal immigrants he falsely claimed came to the polls. Despite Trump’s victory under the state-by-state Electoral College system that governs presidential elections, Clinton earned nearly three million more votes than he did.

Before the vote in November, Trump repeatedly claimed that there was major voter fraud in big cities with large black populations, such as Chicago, Philadelphia and St. Louis, though this was not true either.

Spicer’s Tuesday briefing was his third appearance in the White House press room. At his first, on Saturday, he made five separate false claims about the size of the crowd at Trump’s Friday inauguration.