TOPLINE
During an interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace that aired Sunday, President Trump refused to commit to accepting the results of the 2020 election, slammed mail-in voting and called polls showing him trailing former Vice President Joe Biden “fake”
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 15: President Donald J. Trump walks from the Oval Office to board marine One ... [+]
KEY FACTS
Presented with a Fox News poll showing him trailing Biden by 8 points, Trump told Wallace, “first of all, I'm not losing, because those are fake polls."
Wallace asked Trump “can you give a direct answer that you will accept the election?”
“I have to see,” Trump said of accepting the result in November. “I have to see. No, I’m not going to just say yes. I’m not going to say no, and I didn’t last time either.”
The comments echo Trump saying at a 2016 presidential debate “I will tell you at the time. I will keep you in suspense,” about whether he would accept the results of that election, which he followed up with the statement, “I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election if I win.”
Trump has repeatedly dismissed polls showing him down by wide margins as “fake” and “suppression polls,” instead citing anecdotal metrics like boaters and motorcyclists with Trump flags as evidence of enthusiasm.
Trump told Wallace that he is not a good loser, and reiterated his conspiratorial and mostly unsubstantiated claim that “mail-in voting is going to rig the election.”
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh doubled down on Trump's comments on mail-in voting in a statement to Forbes, accusing Democrats of attempting to "eliminate protections for election integrity" and declaring "we don’t know what kind of shenanigans Democrats will try leading up to November."
Big Number
63%. The Fox News poll found broad support for mail-in voting, with 63% of registered voters saying they favor allowing all U.S. citizens to vote by mail, while just 28% said they oppose such a measure.
Tangent
Since seizing the nomination in April, Biden has frequently raised alarms about foul play on Trump’s part. In April, Biden predicted that Trump will “try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held” and collude with Russia. Biden made similar claims in June, telling the Daily Show’s Trevor Noah “this president is going to try to steal this election.” During a virtual fundraiser on Friday, Biden told a group of lawyers that he has begun receiving national security briefings and that “the Russians are still engaged in trying to delegitimize our electoral process. Fact.”
Chief Critic
In response to Trump’s comments to Wallace, the Biden campaign’s Rapid Response Director Andrew Bates said "the American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House."
News Peg
Trump’s comments come as concerns are mounting that the 2020 result may not be decisive on election night–or even in the weeks after the election. New York is still counting ballots from its primary, which took place three weeks ago, with some close races still uncalled. Additionally, in California, more than 100,000 mail-in ballots went uncounted, leading to concerns about possible voter suppression that build on already-widespread concerns among Democrats that Republicans will suppress voters in red states.
