A resurfaced video from the final debate between former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, who triumphed in the 2016 election, has circulated across social media. In it, Clinton is heard saying:
“Every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is is rigged against him.”
WATCH: @HillaryClinton says @realDonaldTrump has history of complaining about 'rigging.' #debatenight pic.twitter.com/fCW5Gtu7Or
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) October 20, 2016
Clinton appeared to be referring to Donald Trump’s losses in the 2016 primary election-opening caucus in Iowa and in Wisconsin’s primary, which had led to Trump’s campaign decrying the results and claiming that “the Republican primary is rigged against him”.
In the footage, the former Secretary of State continues to assert that candidate Trump had “said something truly horrifying” when he refused to say he would respect the results of the 2016 election due to alleged widespread voter fraud.
“There was even a time when he didn’t get an Emmy for his TV programme three years in a row, and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged,” says Clinton at the 2016 debate.
This was a reference to Trump’s NBC reality series The Apprentice, which had ceded four Emmy awards to The Amazing Race, triggering a heated response from him on Twitter.
The Emmys are all politics, that's why, despite nominations, The Apprentice never won--even though it should have many times over.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2012
In conclusion, Hillary Clinton suggested that this approach was a typical “mindset” for Donald Trump.
“This is how Donald thinks, and it’s funny, but it’s also really troubling. That is not the way our democracy works,” she said.
The remarks came as Hillary Clinton, who outpaced Trump by almost 2.9 million votes in 2016 but eventually lost in the Electoral College, repeatedly riled against the way the election had been “stolen” from her.
Trump Riles Against ‘Fraud’
The video comes as President Donald Trump, who is seeking reelection for a second term, delivered remarks from the press briefing room of the White House in his first public appearance since the early morning hours after Election Day, when he publicly called for vote counting to stop, citing allegations of fraud and misconduct.
Amid a tight race against his Democratic rival Joe Biden and a continuing vote tabulation from a number of battleground states, Trump said:
“If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.”
The current incumbent reiterated claims of rampant “fraud” and rigged election results, as he trails the former vice president in the number of garnered electoral college votes.
The POTUS slammed polls for interfering in the election process by allegedly inflating his opponent’s popularity heading into the elections.
He also cast doubt on the integrity of the drawn-out vote count due to the record-breaking number of mail-in ballots necessitated in part by the coronavirus pandemic.
The latter issue had been addressed by the President throughout his reelection campaign as potentially a “disaster” leading to election “rigging”.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2020
As Donald Trump trails Joe Biden with 214 electoral college votes to his opponent’s 264, his campaign’s legal team has already been on the legal warpath, launching lawsuits.
The legal team has filed lawsuits and motions pertaining in cases involving battleground states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada, requesting a recount in Wisconsin, which Biden won on Wednesday.
