Even as President Donald Trump starts reaching out to lawmakers and business and union leaders to sell his policies, he’s still making false claims about election fraud.
During a bipartisan reception with lawmakers at the White House Monday evening, Trump claimed the reason he’d lost the popular vote to his Democratic rival was that three million to five million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally had voted. That’s according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
There is no evidence to support Trump’s claim.
The assertion appeared to be part of a developing pattern for Trump and his new administration in which falsehoods overshadow outreach efforts.
After a contentious weekend, Trump began his first full week as president bounding from one room of the White House to another as he played host to business, labour and Congressional leaders. Again and again, he ordered aides to summon journalists from their West Wing workspace at a moment’s notice for unscheduled statements and photo opportunities.
Among those meetings: a reception at the White House for congressional leaders of both parties, with plenty of meatballs and small talk.
But what was supposed to be a lighthearted get-together was overshadowed by Trump’s debunked assertion about the popular vote.
Trump’s comments were similar to claims he made on Twitter in late November that he had won the electoral college in a “landslide” and “won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.” Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes, despite losing the electoral college. There is no evidence that voter fraud significantly affected the vote.
The start of Trump’s first full week in office had begun as a reset after a tumultuous weekend dominated by his and his spokesman’s false statements about inauguration crowds and their vigorous complaints about media coverage of the celebrations. While Trump’s advisers have long accepted his tendency to become fixated on seemingly insignificant issues, some privately conceded that his focus on inauguration crowds was unhelpful on the opening weekend of his presidency.
Trump on Tuesday will continue his outreach efforts as he meets with executives from the auto industry. He’ll also speak by phone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and meet with his newly sworn-in CIA Director Mike Pompeo.