Former vice president Joe Biden claimed in a Wednesday interview that President Trump “is going to try to steal this election” through unfounded allegations of voter fraud, adding that his “single greatest concern” is keeping the voting process fair and legitimate.
Speaking to Trevor Noah of The Daily Show, who raised voting issues in Wednesday’s Georgia primary as a possible harbinger for November, Biden criticized Trump for claiming that mass mail-in ballots would be “substantially fraudulent” and result in a “rigged election.” Twitter subsequently added a fact-check label to Trump’s claims, to which the president responded by saying that “Social Media Platforms totally silence conservatives voices.”
“This is a guy who said that all mail-in ballots are fraudulent, voting by mail,” Biden stated. “While he sits behind the desk in the Oval Office and writes his mail-in ballot to vote in a primary.”
Some Georgians waited for six hours in line to cast ballots at combined urban precincts due to voting-machine failures. Republicans and Democrats have drawn battle lines over increasing voting-by-mail for the November election over fears of coronavirus, according to Bob Stein, a political scientist and pollster with Rice University.
Stein told Politico that he saw support for mail-in voting drop seven percentage points among Houston Republicans who previously had voted by mail, after Trump began criticizing mail-in voting. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Stein said.
Asked by Noah whether he had considered the possibility that Trump would refuse to accept the election results if he lost, Biden said “Yes, I have.” The interview, which appears to be edited, then jumps to Biden citing a number of prominent military figures, including former defense secretary James Mattis, who have criticized the president in recent days.
“I’m absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch,” Biden claimed, apparently envisioning a scenario in which Trump refuses to transfer power peacefully.
Biden’s claims come after the former vice president said in April that Trump “is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held.”
“That’s the only way he thinks he can possibly win,” Biden told an online fundraiser.
Send a tip to the news team at NR.