Donald Trump pledged on Thursday to accept the results of the upcoming election so long as he defeats Hillary Clinton, fanning the flames of a controversy that began Wednesday night when he refused to say he would accept the election outcome regardless of which candidate wins.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I want to make a major announcement today,” Trump told supporters of his in Delaware, Ohio.
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“I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters and to all of the people of the United States that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election if I win,” he said with a smirk.
Trump has been accused by Republicans and Democrats alike of undermining the electoral process by claiming the system is rigged against him, and threatening to disregard the normal peaceful transition of power should he lose.
The GOP presidential nominee dismissed such criticism during his afternoon rally in the Buckeye State, arguing that he has been asked to “agree in advance to concede the results on election night” which is “sort of an unprecedented question.”
“If Al Gore and George W. Bush had agreed three weeks before the [2000] election to concede the results and waive their right to a legal challenge or a recount, then there would be no Supreme Court case,” he said, claiming that his critics are unfairly demanding that he “waive centuries of legal precedent designed to protect the voters.”
Trump listed off several statistics aimed at substantiating his argument that Democrats could commit voter fraud on Nov. 8 and his fans should thus be skeptical of the election outcome. “Listen to this,” he told the crowd, “there are 24 million voter registrations in the U.S. that are either invalid or significantly inaccurate.”
He continued, “1.8 million people are dead, but they’re registered to vote. Some of them vote even if they’re dead, which is really a hard thing to do, but it’s easy if fraud is involved.”
“And 14 percent of non-citizens are registered to vote,” Trump added. “Now, I am not a politician so I can say it like it is — those are terrible and frightening statistics.”
Trump clarified that he would accept an unequivocal election outcome, but simultaneously reserves his right to challenge a “questionable result” in the court system.
“Of course I would accept a clear election result, but I would also reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result – right?” he said to applause from his supporters. “And always, I will follow and abide by all of the rules and traditions of all of the many candidates who have come before me.”
