On Thursday, 24 September, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that US President Donald Trump will accept the results of a “free and fair” election, PTI reported.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump had said that he would not commit to transfer of power post-US elections day if he loses the presidential post to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
"The president will accept the results of a free and fair election. But I think that your question is more fitting to be asked of Democrats, who have already been on the record saying they will not accept the results of an election," White House Press Secretary told reporters, PTI reported.
According to The Washington Post, she was responding to ABC News’ Jonathan Karl question asking, “If the president loses this election, will this White House, will this president assure us that there will be a peaceful transfer of power?”
"I believe that question asked by the Playboy reporter -- in fact, I think have it right here -- he (Trump) was asked win, lose or draw, whether he would accept the transfer of power. I am not entirely sure if he won, why would he accept a transfer of power. That is maybe the deranged wish of that reporter, but that is not how governing works (sic)," McEnany said, the PTI report added.
Democrats Questioned Election’s Validity: Press Secretary
She then went on to refer to various comments earlier made by the Democrats, that apparently questioned an election’s validity.
“South Carolina Democrat Jim Clyburn has said Trump is not going to win fairly. Senator Barbara Boxer has said the only way Trump will win is to steal it. That is according to Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer,” McEnany added.
She further quoted a Washington Post article mentioning its headline: “Democrats may not trust the results of the election if Trump wins''.
“And then you have that beautiful quote from Hillary Clinton that Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstance,” she said.
She also claimed that police in Greenville, Wisconsin had found a mail in a ditch and that it included absentee ballots. She also said that ballots for the president were found in Pennsylvania. “And I believe you should be getting more information on that shortly. Here in the last 24 hours, they were found cast aside.”
"The president has always made the distinction that absentee ballots, where you go through a process, where you request a ballot and you mail that in, that is a system that works," the press secretary said.
Trump had previously argued that mail-in voting is rife with fraud. He had said that voting through the mail will lead to inaccurate counting or fraud, but the US president has failed to provide any proof to back his claim.
(With inputs from PTI, The Washington Post)
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