Obama dismisses Trump claim of ‘rigged’ election

by Jordan Fabian - 08/04/16 5:30 PM ET

Obama says any conspiracy theories about a rigged election are "ridiculous" https://t.co/6OZtrfIwim https://t.co/VJwyb6rJPS

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 4, 2016

President Obama on Thursday laughed off Donald Trump’s claim that the November election could be “rigged” against him.

Obama appeared befuddled by the GOP presidential nominee’s declaration when asked about it during a press conference at the Pentagon.

{mosads}“I don’t even really know where to start on answering this question,” he said. “Of course the elections will not be rigged. What does that mean?”

Obama pointed out that elections are run by state and local authorities — which are run by Republicans and Democrats alike — and not the federal government.

“If Mr Trump is suggesting a conspiracy theory that is being propagated across the country … that’s ridiculous,” the president said.

“It doesn’t make sense and I don’t think anyone would take that seriously.”

Obama drew a sports analogy to Trump’s eyebrow-raising claim, saying that he has “never heard someone complaining about getting cheated before the game is over.”

“My suggestion would be, go out there and try to win the election,” Obama said.

“If Mr. Trump is up 10-15 points on Election Day and ends up losing, maybe he can raise some questions. That doesn’t seem to be the case at the moment.”

Tags Donald Trump