Trump bashes recount efforts, says ‘millions voted illegally’

28 Nov, 2016 03:57 / Updated 8 years ago

US president-elect Donald Trump has criticized the pro-Clinton camp’s decision to back recount attempts in three states, claiming that he not only won the Electoral College, but also the popular vote if one deducts “millions of people who voted illegally.”

President-elect Donald Trump took to his favorite social media platform to send a stream of posts indicating that Hillary Clinton campaign’s involvement in an election recount would change nothing, and he would still become the 45th president of the United States.

“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” Trump said in one of his tweets on Sunday.

The tycoon billionaire also declared that “nothing will change,” and he reiterated that Clinton had already conceded the election.

“Hillary Clinton conceded the election when she called me just prior to the victory speech and after the results were in. Nothing will change,” Trump tweeted.

On Saturday, Hillary Clinton’s campaign came out in support of Dr. Jill Stein’s recount efforts in Wisconsin. A day earlier, the Wisconsin Election Commission said that the recount would begin late next week.

Stein, who has so far raised over $6 million through online fundraising campaigns, also intends to pursue and pay for recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

READ MORE: Wisconsin receives Stein and Del La Fuente recount petitions

Trump called the efforts to recount votes in three states a “scam,” as the president-elect attacked Green party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, stating that, "the Green Party scam to fill up their coffers by asking for impossible recounts is now being joined by the badly defeated & demoralized Dems.”

In the meantime, the 70-year-old Republican also accused the Democrats of initially accepting the election outcome “when they incorrectly thought they were going to win.”

In another series of tweets, Trump said Clinton had called him out on the president-elect refusing to accept the election results should he lose, adding that “been around for 240 years. We’ve had free and fair elections. We’ve accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them, and this is what must be expected of anyone standing during the election.”

READ MORE: Clinton campaign backs Stein effort to ensure vote recount is 'fair'

“I for one, am appalled that somebody that is the nominee of one of our two major parties would take that kind of position.”

During his election campaign, he complained about voter identity fraud in communities typically leaning towards the Democrats. In his latest Sunday tweet, the real estate tycoon pointed towards “serious voter fraud” in Virginia, New Hampshire, and California, accusing the media of neglecting the issue.

In follow-up tweets, he said, "it would have been much easier for me to win the so-called popular vote than the electoral college in that I would only campaign in three or four states instead of the 15 states that I visited. I would have won even more easily and convincingly (but smaller states are forgotten)!”

Stein, on Sunday also took to Twitter to defend transparency in a democracy.

“Clinton + Trump: Want democracy? Include the option to vote for a "None of the Above" on all party primary and general election ballots,” she said in one of the Tweets.

The former presidential candidate called for automatic “mandatory” recounts in all states to verify every election result. She also called to make Election Day a national holiday, so all Americans have the opportunity to vote.

Stein urged the government to develop “publicly-owned, open-source voting equipment to ensure transparent, fair elections.”