President Donald Trump refused to give a clear answer on whether he would accept this year’s presidential election results in an exclusive wide-ranging interview with Fox News, which aired Sunday.
Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace pressed Trump to “give a direct answer” on whether he would accept the Nov. 3 election results or not.
“I have to see. Look, you — 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,” Trump said.
When asked if he can give a direct answer about whether he will accept the election, Trump replied, “I have to see.” pic.twitter.com/QgRWyCM3D4
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) July 19, 2020
The exchange came shortly after Wallace asked whether Trump was “a good loser” or gracious. Trump said that he wasn’t a good loser and that he thinks “mail-in voting is going to rig the election.” This led Wallace to ask whether Trump may not accept the results of the election.
Wallace referenced that he had asked Trump a similar question during a 2016 presidential debate in which Trump had faced off against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Wallace had asked then whether Trump was prepared to concede to the winner, if he didn’t win. “I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense,” Trump had said in 2016.
Election experts say Trump’s critiques of mail-in voting as a pathway to voter fraud are largely unsubstantiated. Instead, they say mail-in voting is expected to improve voter turnout on the whole and there is little evidence that it will have a partisan effect by benefitting one party over the other. Democrats are rallying behind increased access to voting, including mail-in voting, as the coronavirus pandemic has led some citizens to risk their health in order to vote in-person. Some Republicans have voiced support for mail-in voting as well.
Trump had offered a similar refusal during the 2016 election