Likely Democratic presidential nominee Joseph R. Biden on Wednesday predicted that President Trump will try to “steal” the fall election and said he’s thought about what would happen if Mr. Trump refuses to cede power if he loses.
“This president is going to try to steal this election,” Mr. Biden said on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.”
“This is a guy who said that all mail-in ballots are fraudulent,” he said, pointing out that Mr. Trump himself has voted by mail.
The former vice president had been asked about rampant problems at the polls in states like Georgia during the current primary season.
He said making sure everyone has the right to vote is a top concern, and that various states have passed laws making it harder for people to vote.
“If I’m president, we’re going to have same-day registration,” he said.
Mr. Biden said he has thought about what would happen if the election results showed that he won but Mr. Trump refused to leave office.
He predicted the president would ultimately be escorted from the White House “with great dispatch.”
Mr. Trump has given no serious public indication that he would refuse to leave if he loses and the White House dismissed the notion that the military might have to escort him off the premises as a “ridiculous proposition.”
“This president’s looking forward to November – this president’s hard at work for the American people,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Thursday on Fox News. “Leave it to Democrats to go out there and grandstand and level these conspiracy theories.”
Rep. Cedric Richmond, a top Biden surrogate, said it’s a “serious question.”
But Rep. Cedric Richmond, a top Biden surrogate, said it’s a “serious question.”
“I think that former Vice President Biden is exactly correct: I believe the military generals and others will step up and make sure that there’s a peaceful transition of power,” Mr. Richmond, Louisiana Democrat, said Thursday on CNN.
“I haven’t asked for much on this campaign, but I do want to be on the escort committee to make sure that he leaves the White House,” he said.
On Wednesday, Sen. Cory A. Booker of New Jersey said he was worried about Mr. Trump’s possibly refusing to concede the election if he loses, but suggested that he and other people in positions of power wouldn’t let the president remain in power.
At a 2016 presidential debate, then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton called Mr. Trump’s refusing to say he’d accept the election outcome “horrifying.”
Though Mr. Trump won the election, he continued to raise doubts about the results afterward and suggested that Mrs. Clinton’s win in the popular vote was a product of massive fraud.
