President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday again criticized Hillary Clinton’s participation in an election recount.
In typical Trump fashion, he posted a series of tweets early Sunday morning that painted Clinton as a hypocrite because she’d previously criticized Trump’s stunning admission that he may not accept the results of the election.
Hillary Clinton conceded the election when she called me just prior to the victory speech and after the results were in. Nothing will change
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
Hillary’s debate answer on delay: “That is horrifying. That is not the way our democracy works. Been around for 240 years. We’ve had free —
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
and fair elections. We’ve accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them, and that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a –
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
during a general election. I, for one, am appalled that somebody that is the nominee of one of our two major parties would take that kind —
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
of position.” Then, separately she stated, “He said something truly horrifying … he refused to say that he would respect the results of —
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
this election. That is a direct threat to our democracy.” She then said, “We have to accept the results and look to the future, Donald —
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
Trump is going to be our President. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.” So much time and money will be spent – same result! Sad
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
Last month, Trump, who repeatedly claimed the election was “rigged,” would not say whether he would accept the results, saying at the final presidential debate that “I’ll keep you in suspense.” Clinton called Trump’s statement “horrifying.”
Trump later clarified that he would accept the results “if I win.”
On Saturday, Clinton’s campaign general counsel Marc Elias confirmed that the campaign would cooperate in a vote recount underway in Wisconsin, launched by Green Party candidate Jill Stein. It will also participate if Stein applies for recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The three battleground states gave Trump the thinnest margins of victory, with Trump winning them by a total of 107,000 votes. Last week, a group of activists claimed that they had evidence of irregularities in the results and lobbied Clinton’s team to pursue a recount.
Stein, who quickly raised over $5 million to fund the recount, said it was not intended to help Clinton.
Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, called the recount effort “a fraud.”
“It is a total and complete hypocritical joke that the group of people that thought that they were nervous about President-elect Trump not conceding are the people that are conducting recounts in states where we won by over 68,000 votes,” Priebus said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I think the American people know this is a waste of everyone’s time and money, and it’s only an effort to divide this country when we need to come together.”
