Former President Donald Trump refused to unconditionally accept the results of the upcoming 2024 presidential election in an interview Wednesday with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“If everything’s honest, I’ll gladly accept the results.
Trump said he would “let it be known” if he thought the 2024 election wasn’t “honest,” but said he anticipated it would be.
“But no, I expect an honest election and we expect to win maybe very big.” Trump said, “But if everything’s honest, which we anticipate it will be — a lot of changes have been made over the last few years — but if everything’s honest, I will absolutely accept the results.” “I want people that vote to cast an honest ballot.
Trump has repeatedly claimed the 2020 election was rigged or “stolen,” despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Special counsel Jack Smith indicted the former president last year, alleging Trump broke several laws in his attempts to overturn the election.
Throughout his political career, Trump has regularly refused to accept the results of an election or commit to conceding defeat.
Later, while facing Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump baselessly claimed the election he eventually won was “rigged” and repeatedly refused to say whether he would abide by the outcome.
In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday, former president Donald Trump objected to accepting the outcome of the next presidential election in 2024 without reservation.
“If all is honest, I will gladly accept the outcome. In the interview, Trump declared, “I don’t change on that.”. If not, you must defend the nation’s rights. “.
This is Trump’s most recent remark aimed at undermining faith in the US electoral system should he lose in November. He also made false claims in the interview that he would win Wisconsin in the 2020 election and questioned the integrity of the ballot count. “.
Trump told the Journal Sentinel, “If you go back and look at everything that had been found out, it showed that I had won the election in Wisconsin.”. It also demonstrated that I was victorious in other elections. “.
With a margin of victory of roughly 21,000 votes, or 0.6 percentage points, President Joe Biden won Wisconsin in 2020.
Though he predicted the 2024 election would be “honest,” Trump said he would “let it be known” if he didn’t think it was.
Trump told the Journal Sentinel, “If I said otherwise, I would be doing a disservice to the country.”. But no, I anticipate a fair election, and we anticipate winning—possibly by a wide margin. “.
“But if everything is honest, which we anticipate it will be—a lot of changes have been made over the last few years—but if everything is honest, I will absolutely accept the results,” stated Trump. “.
“I desire that voters cast truthful ballots. I want an honest count of the votes. Trump declared, “I don’t want people to go to legislatures, get things not approved, and then do it anyway.”.
Despite the lack of evidence supporting widespread voter fraud, Trump has maintained that the 2020 election was rigged or “stolen.”. The former president was charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith last year on charges that he attempted to rig the election by breaking multiple laws. Trump entered a not guilty plea to the criminal charges and refuted the accusations.
Throughout his political career, Trump has consistently shown a reluctance to accept election results and to pledge to concede defeat. When Trump emerged from the 2016 Iowa caucuses in second place, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz of dishonesty and demanded a fresh competition. Subsequently, when running against Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump falsely claimed the election he ultimately won was “rigged” and kept evading questions about whether he would accept the result. He has once more shied away from a commitment in the run-up to the 2024 election.
At a press conference earlier this month, the presumed Republican nominee accompanied House Speaker Mike Johnson to, among other things, “draw attention to” what they claim are state proposals and lawsuits that would permit non-citizens to vote, CNN previously reported.
Voting in federal elections is currently prohibited for non-citizens by federal law. Voting illegally exposes non-citizens to fines, imprisonment for up to a year, and deportation. However, in an effort to incite fear about immigration and election security ahead of the November election, Trump has repeatedly made false claims that Democrats want undocumented migrants to enter the country in order to influence the outcome of the election.
With the start of his criminal hush money trial in New York last month, Trump made his first appearance on the campaign trail on Wednesday. The likely Republican nominee spent the day presiding over rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan, two crucial battleground states that Biden defeated in 2020 despite he won in 2016.
Additional remarks have been added to this story.
For this report, CNN’s Alison Main, Steve Contorno, Kristen Holmes, and Alayna Treene contributed.
