“He’s groveling,” President Donald Trump told ABC News’ David Muir about the author of the 2012 Pew report on which Trump is basing his claims of widespread voter fraud in the presidential election he won.
That was Trump’s response when Muir told him he had interviewed the author of the 2012 Pew report, who told him he found no evidence of voter fraud.
“I always talk about the reporters that grovel when they want to write something that you want to hear, but not necessarily millions of people want to hear – or have to hear,” Trump said, in his first sit down as POTUS.
In the exchange, part of a one-hour interview to air on ABC tonight at 10 PM ET, Trump explained why he has called for a major investigation into voter fraud. Trump, who is POTUS after winning the electoral vote, has since his inauguration resuscitated his claims he would have won the popular vote, had not 3-5 million votes been cast illegally.
In the interview with Muir, Trump revealed more of his widely debunked theory.
“You have people registered who are dead, who are illegals…you have people registered in two states; they vote twice,” he said.
“There are millions – in my opinion,” he said.
Whem Muir pointed out that what he had presented so far has been debunked, Trump shot back, “Take a look at the Pew report.” Muir said he had in fact spoken to the author of that report before his interview with Trump and that the author had told him they found no evidence of voter fraud.
“Then why did he write the report?” Trump asked.
When Muir persisted, Trump said dismissively of the report’s author:
“Then he’s groveling again. I always talk about the reporters that grovel when they want to write something that you want to hear, but not necessarily millions of people want to hear – or have to hear.”
Then this:
“I will say this: Of those votes cast, none of them come to me. None of them come to me,” Trump said. “They would all be for the other side. None of them come to me. When you look at the people who are registered, dead, illegal, and two states…We have a lot to look into.”
CNN reports Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon was registered to vote both in Florida and in New York during the election cycle, as was his daughter Tiffany.
