While Donald Trump said he would keep the American people “in suspense” on whether he would accept the election results, that’s not what all his surrogates said before or after the debate.
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN almost immediately after the debate that the GOP nominee will accept the results of the election because he will win.
“Donald Trump will accept the results of the election because he is going to win the election, so they’ll be easy to accept,” Conway told CNN’s Dana Bash, who asked why Trump wouldn’t say that on the debate stage.
“Do you remember 2000 when Al Gore contested the results of the election?” Conway said, referring to the former vice president retracting his concession to George W. Bush, adding that it was an “extraordinary experience.”
Vice presidential nominee Mike Pence told CBS News, “I think there’s no question that Donald Trump will accept the outcome of this election.”
While in the spin room, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn also said that the GOP nominee with indeed accept the election results.
“He’ll accept the results,” Flynn told reporters.
The Republican National Committee echoed the claims from Flynn. Chief strategist Sean Spicer told reporters that Trump will “100 percent” accept the results in November.
Even Laura Ingraham, the LifeZette editor in chief who doubles as an adviser to Trump, argued that the real estate mogul’s remark was an unforced error and “should have said” he would “accept the results” of the election.
But former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, was quoted as saying in the post-debate spin room that Trump would only accept a “legitimate” election result, as anything else would betray those who died for our freedom.
