Experts and
elected officials on both sides of the political aisle on Monday dismissed
Donald Trump's claim that "millions" of Americans voted illegally on
Election Day, as
efforts expanded to organize recounts in swing states.
The Republican
billionaire's victory on November 8 saw him clinch the crucial Electoral
College count, which determines the presidency, but lose the popular vote to
rival Hillary Clinton by more than two million ballots.
Cloistered in
his Florida resort for the long Thanksgiving weekend, the 70-year-old tycoon
who has never previously held elected office took to Twitter to indulge in one
of his customary tweet storms.
On Sunday,
before returning by private jet to New York to resume interviews with potential
cabinet appointees, he claimed he would have won the popular vote if it were
not for "the millions of people who voted illegally."
"Serious
voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California -- so why isn't the media
reporting on this? Serious bias -- big problem!" he followed up later.
Trump, who
spent the campaign warning that the result might be "rigged," is now
-- with his aides -- pushing back hard as the Green Party works to secure
recounts in three states which Trump won: Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The campaign
of Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who won a tiny fraction of the vote in
each state and where Trump beat Clinton by thousands of votes, said voters had
filed recount requests in more than 100 (out of 9,163) precincts in
Pennsylvania -- promising that more would follow.
The party
requested a statewide recount in Wisconsin on Friday and plans to request a
recount in Michigan on Wednesday, the campaign said.
- 'No
evidence' -
But observers
deny any evidence of widespread fraud.
And few expect
any change in the outcome of the vote, which former secretary of state Clinton
conceded to Trump in an early-hours phone call on November 9.
Meanwhile,
Trump increased his Electoral College vote count to 306, compared to 232 for
Clinton, after Michigan certified its election results -- and his victory
there.
Republican,
Democratic and independent lawmakers dismissed Trump's claims as totally
unsubstantiated.
Some experts
warned they set a dangerous precedent by potentially undermining trust in
democracy or confidence in his leadership.
"I have
not seen anything in the millions, I don't know what he was talking
about," Republican Senator James Lankford told CNN.
White House
spokesman Josh Earnest said "there has been no evidence produced to substantiate
a claim like that."
Clinton's
campaign has said it would join the process, but has also indicated it so far
sees no evidence of hacking or vote tampering.
Bernie
Sanders, who ran against Clinton for the Democratic nomination, called Trump's remarks
"unfounded nonsense" that showed Republicans wanted to make it harder
for people including minorities to register to vote.
- Discord -
In New
Hampshire, deputy secretary of state David Scanlan told AFP that isolated
instances of voter fraud "show up in every election" but that the
2016 ballot had run "very smoothly."
But the
dispute roils what has already been a rough transition period, as Trump
continues to hold back-to-back meetings with people he is considering for
cabinet posts.
Trump has picked
Georgia Representative Tom Price, a robust critic of President Barack Obama's
health care reform law, to serve as health secretary, and plans to make a
formal announcement as early as Tuesday, US media reported.
And his Vice
president-elect Mike Pence told reporters to expect "a number of very
important announcements" on Tuesday, fueling speculation of more cabinet
posts to be revealed.
Trump
threatened to end the thaw in US relations with Cuba, following the death of
Fidel Castro, unless Havana makes concessions on human rights and opening up
its economy.
Discord has
flared in the Trump camp over the pick for secretary of state, the most
prestigious job in the cabinet -- in particular over the candidacy of Mitt
Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.
Other
potential candidates are outspoken former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani; David
Petraeus, the celebrated general who later resigned as CIA director and pleaded
guilty to showing classified material to his mistress; and Bob Corker, a
Republican lawmaker and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Trump met
Petraeus on Monday, and was to meet Romney for a second time on Tuesday, in
addition to a planned meeting with Corker.
"Very
impressed!" tweeted Trump of Petraeus just minutes after the general left
the building, having described their conversation as "very good."
Romney was one
of Trump's most outspoken critics during the campaign, and Trump aide Kellyanne
Conway declared, in an unusual statement by a senior political aide, that she
had received "a deluge" of concern from supporters about him.
AFP
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