President Donald Trump can accept the results of the midterms “if the elections are honest.”
That is what the president told NBC’s Tom Llamas on Wednesday, per Mediaite.
If that is not the case,“something else has to happen,” he added.
Watch:
Trump’s conversation with Llamas is part of a pre-Super Bowl interview in the Oval Office.
The “NBC Nightly News”anchor asked Trump about his recent comments when he said Republicans should “nationalize” the voting process.
“I didn’t say ‘nationalize,’” Trump replied. “I 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.”
He continued, talking about voter identification.
“I could give you plenty more, too. I say that we cannot have corrupt elections. If we have to, if they don’t straighten it out. As an example: voter ID. Why don’t the Democrats want voter ID?” Trump said. “You know who does want voter ID? Democrat voters want it, but Democrat politicians don’t. Why don’t they want it? Because they want to cheat on elections.
Can you imagine, if I were a politician and they asked me, ‘Do you want voter identification?’ and I said, ‘No,’ there’s no way you can win that debate. If Democrats don’t want voter ID, if they don’t want voter ID, that means they want to cheat. We can’t allow cheating in elections.”
“Now, if we need to put in federal controls as opposed to state controls. Remember this, they’re really an agent. They’re really accumulating the votes for who wins an election. If they can’t do it honestly, and it can’t be done properly and timely, then something else has to happen,” 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.
“Will you trust the results of the midterms if Republicans lose control of Congress?” Llamas asked the president.
“I will, if the elections are honest,” Trump responded. “Look, I want– 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. That’s 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.”
