CNN’s Jake Tapper opened today’s edition of The Lead by attacking the Trump administration’s reaffirmation of the false claim that mass voter fraud took place in the 2016 presidential election. After President Trump reportedly brought up the topic last night during a meeting with top members of Congress, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer acknowledged during today’s press briefing that the president continues to believe the unverified claim that 3 to 5 million votes were illegally cast in November, and that this is a reason why he lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton.
Tapper made an intriguing statement in his open: “It was interesting that Mr. Spicer did not say that he shared the belief, even after he was asked. So why would that be? That would be because there is zero evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 election.”
He continued: “If President Trump’s beliefs are true, Republican leaders in Congress should be holding hearings and trumpeting this injustice every single day…unless, of course, it is not even remotely true, which is, of course, the case.”
.@jaketapper: There is a reason White House is providing no evidence about voter fraud claim – there is no evidence. https://t.co/abX6903oZipic.twitter.com/fi5vkeK7Um
— The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) January 24, 2017
Tapper’s CNN colleague and chief national security correspondent Jim Scuitto took it a step further:
Trump’s claim of 3-5 million illegal voters is equivalent to his birtherism: a sustained fiction with putative proof never to be seen
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 24, 2017