President Donald Trump’s unfounded allegations about the country’s contentious election and alleged voter fraud continued unabated Thursday in brief remarks from the White House.
Without evidence or any allegation of substance, the president of the United States blamed Detroit specifically, and again falsely claimed that he won Michigan. Joe Biden won Michigan by more than 100, 000 votes, according to the official ballot count.
"When our observers attempted to challenge that activity, the poll workers jumped in front of the volunteers to block their view so that they couldn't see what they were doing, and it became a little bit dangerous," Trump said, making an allegation that credible sources say is false. The president's lawsuit against Michigan where he attempted to stop the vote was summarily dismissed in the courts, and similar claims on Twitter have been blocked by the company as fake news.
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Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Michigan's election process was safe, fair and lawful and any lies to the contrary are an "attack on democracy."
Meanwhile, Trump said this: "If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal vote, they can try to steal the election from us. If you count the votes that came in late, we’re looking at them very strongly. But a lot of votes came in late."
The president, who was last seen on Election Night accusing Democrats and state-level officials of election fraud, discussed the supposed fraud as ballots continued to be counted against his wishes in critical swing states like Pennsylvania and Georgia.
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In both states, numbers currently show Trump with a dwindling lead.
In Arizona and Nevada, states that could eventually swing the electoral map in rival Joe Biden’s favor according to various projections, President Trump is currently behind in the vote tally.
However, Biden’s lead in the overall popular vote is growing as more ballots are tabulated, leading to a flurry of lawsuits trying to halt counting altogether.
"I told everybody that these things would happen, because I’ve seen it happen," the president alleged without evidence. "I’ve watched a lot of different elections before they decided to go with this big, massive election with tens of millions of ballots going out to everybody. In many cases, it was totally unsolicited."
"There’s been a lot of shenanigans and we can’t stand for that in our country," he added. The president’s campaign has also sued to stop counting over various unproven allegations in Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania.
In a preview of what’s to come, the president added that there will "be a lot of litigation."
He did not take questions.
Several outlets have already projected Biden the winner in Wisconsin and Michigan, two states the president was leading in by the time he spoke Election Night. Mail-in ballots shifted the count in Biden’s favor in the hours following Trump’s controversial remarks. Trump urged his followers repeatedly not to use mail in ballots, claiming they were unreliable, and told them to vote in person.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spoke on MSNBC shortly after the president's speech and compared the response unfavorably to Hillary Clinton's response when she lost Michigan to Trump by 10,000 votes in 2016. "(She) put country before herself and conceded and moved on and held her head up with dignity and showed the world how to move forward," Whitmer said.
For his part, Biden urged patience as votes are counted in speaking Thursday afternoon.