President Donald Trumpcan accept the results of the midterms âif the elections are honest.â
That is what the president told NBCâs Tom Llamason Wednesday, per Mediaite.
If that is not the case,âsomething else has to happen,â he added.
Watch:
Trumpâs conversation with Llamas is part of a pre-Super Bowl interview in the Oval Office.
The âNBC Nightly Newsâanchor asked Trump about his recent comments when he said Republicans should ânationalizeâ the voting process.
âI didnât say ânationalize,ââ Trump replied. âI said there are some areas in the country that are extremely corrupt. They have very corrupt elections. Take a look at Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta. There are some areas that are unbelievably corrupt.â
He continued, talking about voter identification.
âI could give you plenty more, too. I say that we cannot have corrupt elections. If we have to, if they donât straighten it out. As an example: voter ID. Why donât the Democrats want voter ID?â Trump said. âYou know who does want voter ID? Democrat voters want it, but Democrat politicians donât. Why donât they want it? Because they want to cheat on elections.
Can you imagine, if I were a politician and they asked me, âDo you want voter identification?â and I said, âNo,â thereâs no way you can win that debate. If Democrats donât want voter ID, if they donât want voter ID, that means they want to cheat. We canât allow cheating in elections.â
âNow, if we need to put in federal controls as opposed to state controls. Remember this, theyâre really an agent. Theyâre really accumulating the votes for who wins an election. If they canât do it honestly, and it canât be done properly and timely, then something else has to happen,â he added.
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained Trump was endorsing the SAVE Act.
The SAVE Act is a bill that require proof of citizenship for voter registration.
âWill you trust the results of the midterms if Republicans lose control of Congress?â Llamas asked the president.
âI will, if the elections are honest,â Trump responded. âLook, I wantâ the last one that wants to complain. I just had a great election. They say one of the greatest elections, you will agree, ever. Won all seven swing states, won 84% of the counties in America. Thatâs why the map is all red. We just had a great election. I believe there was cheating. I think there was cheating. But, it was too big to rig.â
