President Donald Trump declined to say if he would accept the election results in November.
Asked at a press conference Wednesday if he would “commit to a peaceful transferal of power” if he lost the election, Trump said: “Well, we’re gonna have to see what happens.”
The president then tried, again, to delegitimise mail-in voting, saying: “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots. The ballots are a disaster … Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a peaceful ... there won’t be a transfer, frankly, there’ll be a continuation.”
As millions of Americans are set to vote by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic, Trump has repeatedly spread disinformation suggesting that mail-in voting is “fraudulent” — it is not.
In July, Trump similarly said in an interview that he’ll “have to see” when asked if he’d accept the election results.
The president has been laying the groundwork to declare the election illegitimate, including by undermining the US Postal Service — the agency tasked with processing mailed ballots — and by claiming that the only way Democrats can win “is to cheat” — which is false.
Trump has also suggested he is pushing through a Supreme Court nominee before the election to position the court to vote in his favour if it is tasked with deciding the election results.
After liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last week, Trump said he would name his replacement pick this Saturday, against her final wishes. Republican senators have indicated that they will vote to approve Trump’s nominee — which could give the court a firm conservative majority for years to come.