Donald Trump told Sentinel he would “make it known” if he thought there were problems. (File)
Washington:
Donald Trump faced a backlash Thursday after refusing to promise to accept the results of the 2024 presidential election if he loses, while repeating his false claims that he was cheated in the 2020 election.
“If all is fair, I would happily accept the results,” the Republican former president told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Wednesday. “If not, you have to fight for the right of the land.”
Trump — who is running for a return to the White House in what will almost certainly be a repeat of his 2020 showdown with Joe Biden — made similar comments ahead of the last two presidential elections.
He told the Sentinel he would “make it known” if he thought there were problems.
“I would be doing the country a disservice if I said otherwise,” he said. “But no, I expect fair elections and we may expect a very big victory.”
Trump hesitated when recently asked by Time Magazine whether his defeat in November would lead to political violence, and his latest comments prompted a scathing response from the Biden camp.
“The bottom line is this: Trump is a danger to the Constitution and a threat to our democracy,” campaign spokesman James Singer said in a statement.
“The American people will hand him another electoral defeat in November as they continue to reject his extremism, his affection for violence and his thirst for revenge.”
Trump faces dozens of charges over an alleged criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election — culminating in the storming of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters — that was based on his false claims of voter fraud.
The former president continues to make baseless claims that the White House was stolen from him in 2020, repeatedly and falsely claiming at two rallies on Wednesday that Democrats had committed widespread voter fraud.
“The radical left Democrats rigged the 2020 presidential election and we will not allow them to rig the 2024 presidential election. We will have no country left,” Trump thundered in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
