Burgum sidesteps question on political violence if Trump loses election

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) dodged a question Sunday on whether he would be concerned about political violence if former President Trump loses the presidential election in November.

Co-host Jake Tapper pressed Burgum on “State of the Union” about whether he is worried that there could be political violence if the former president loses the race in November. Tapper noted that Trump told Time magazine in a recent interview that “it depends” when asked if there could be political violence after the election if he doesn’t win.

Burgum sidestepped the question and instead began to rattle off previous contests that he said were widely contested after the elections. He told Tapper that “the bigger context here” is about “elections in America.”

“We talk about an election like it’s one thing in our country, but elections are still run at the state, the county and the precinct level,” he said. “And in Cook County, it was very close between Kennedy and Nixon, and Nixon conceded. In 2000, they’ve made movies about it, and that election was contested for two months in the courts afterwards.”

Tapper then pressed Burgum more about his question on potential violence, but the governor did not directly answer his question. Burgum instead emphasized that both sides should be focusing on securing elections so that both “feel good about how it was counted.”

“I’m looking forward to next January when Vice President Harris certifies the election for Donald Trump. I mean, the American people are the ones that get to decide these elections, but for both parties and for all Americans, we’ve got to make sure that every county, every precinct is beyond reproach, that everybody can be confident in our country,” he replied.

Tapper was referring to Trump’s recent interview with Time magazine, where he was asked about potential political violence after November’s election. Trump first told the magazine that he expected to win and that there would be no violence.

“I think we’re gonna have a big victory. And I think there will be no violence,” he replied, according to the transcript.

Days later, he was pressed further in the interview on whether there could be violence if he does not win the election.

“I think we’re going to win. And if we don’t win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election. I don’t believe they’ll be able to do the things that they did the last time. I don’t think they’ll be able to get away with it. And if that’s the case, we’re gonna win in record-setting fashion,” Trump said, according to the magazine’s transcript.