REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
With no evidence to support the claim, President Donald Trump told congressional leaders that he lost the popular vote due to up to five million fraudulent votes, the Washington Post reports. Trump reportedly made the claim during a Monday night reception with congressional leaders, three sources told the Post. Despite the Trump campaign’s frequent insistence that voter fraud cost it the popular vote, no evidence has supported any of the claim. Post-election analysis found little to no fraud during the election, which saw Hillary Clinton win the popular vote by 2.8 million. Prior to the election, the Trump campaign suggested that Democrats, particularly in inner cities would commit voter fraud, and encouraged supporters to “monitor” those polls, a suggestion some interpreted as implying voter intimidation.
Upon exiting the Monday night reception, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy appeared to allude to Trump’s comments. “We talked about different electoral college, popular vote going through the different ones” McCarthy said. “Well, we talked about going back through past elections. Everyone in there goes through elections and stuff so everybody’s giving their different histories of different parts.”