Trump Press Secretary Doubles Down on Voter Fraud Claim

After being repeatedly pressed about President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims that "millions" of people voting illegally in the presidential election, White House press secretary Sean Spicer left the door open to a possible investigation into the claims during a press briefing Tuesday.

On Monday, Trump said during a meeting with congressional leaders in the White House, that "3 to 5 million illegals" voted, according to two Democratic aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Spicer told reporters Tuesday "maybe we will" launch an investigation into Trump's claims.

"Anything's possible I think at some point," he later added. "There is no investigation. I said it was possible. Anything is possible. It was a hypothetical question."

Trump has made repeated claims about alleged voter fraud after losing the popular vote in the election in November, though thus far no evidence has been presented that backs up his claims.

"He continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence people have presented to him," Spicer said Tuesday.

At least five reporters asked questions on the issue during the press briefing, and at one point Spicer dismissed the suggestion that Trump kept bringing up the topic of the unsubstantiated voter fraud because the president was upset about the vote count. Spicer said that Trump "won very handily" and "he's very comfortable with his win."

When pressed for specific examples of the evidence that Trump has used as the basis of his "longstanding belief," Spicer cited a 2008 study by Pew and "other studies that have been presented to [Trump]."

The Trump transition team was previously asked about this topic and cited the same Pew Research Study, which came out in 2012 but focused on the results of the 2008 election and the need to update voter registrations.

The primary author of the study in question previously responded, tweeting that "the report made no findings re: voter fraud."

Spicer did not give names or sources for the "other studies."

"We'll see where we go from here but right now the focus that the president has is putting Americans back to work," Spicer said.

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from ABC News: Politics http://ift.tt/2jZMbUx

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