The White House is defending Hillary Clinton’s campaign for participating in an election recount in Wisconsin, even though both Clinton and Obama criticized President-elect Trump when he said he might not accept the results of the election if he lost.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that Clinton’s role in a recount in states she lost was different than Trump’s campaign rhetoric.
“I’m not sure it’s the same principle,” Earnest said. “Because I think there is a difference between unfounded claims of fraud and a conscientious interpretation of the recount law that’s consistent with the rules that Democrats and Republicans alike apply when … there’s a narrow victory by one party or the other.”
During the campaign, Trump had suggested he might contest the election results, as former Green Party candidate Jill Stein did last week, if he suspected inaccuracies in the results.
After Stein moved to initiate and pay for a recount in Wisconsin, which Trump won by nearly 30,000 votes, Clinton’s campaign counsel announced the team would join that effort. Stein also pushed Monday to trigger a recount in 100 Pennsylvania counties, even though Trump won that state by nearly 70,000 votes.
Earnest told reporters Monday that Obama’s support of the recount effort did not indicate any loss of trust in the electoral system.
“The president does have confidence in the way the elections in this country are run,” Earnest said.
Stein has indicated she will also pursue a recount in Michigan, another state Trump won by thousands of votes.
