Rep. Steve King (R-IA) claimed Tuesday that millions of undocumented immigrants tilted the popular vote against President Donald Trump, following the president’s own lie about the general election results.
Trump won the Electoral College, but his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by about three million votes.
During an interview with MSNBC’s Hallie Jackson, King defended Trump’s recent assertion to a group of congressional leaders that he would have won the popular vote if not for the three to five million people who voted illegally, a claim that has been proven false by factcheckers.
King said that three million illegal voters sounds “plausible.”
“There is sample data from two counties in Virginia and other counties scattered around the country,” King said. “I took that article when I first saw it come out — a couple, three months ago, and did an extrapolation calculation on how many illegals could have or could be voting in the United States. The number I came up with off of that extrapolation is 2.4 million.”
When Jackson pointed out that factcheckers had debunked that claim, King responded that “sometimes the fact-checkers have a political agenda.”
“We’re finding lots of illegals on the voter rolls when we call them to jury duty,” he said. “So they’re out there and we know they are voting but we don’t know the numbers yet.”
Rep. Steve King tells @HallieJackson that 2.4 million undocumented immigrants could've voted in the election https://t.co/4ETFM3fTAy
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) January 24, 2017
There is no evidence that undocumented immigrants voted in the 2016 presidential election, let alone on the scale of millions. Illegal voting is considered a felony punishable by up to three years in prison. And immigrants could be deported if they have a felony.
As ThinkProgress’ Kira Lerner pointed out, Trump’s claim is dangerous because it could impact future elections, spurring lawmakers to enact stricter voter ID legislation and crack down on access to registration.
Other Republicans haven’t defended Trump’s claim of widespread voter fraud.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) cautiously told reporters that he has “seen no evidence to that effect. I’ve made that very, very clear.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has openly criticized Trump. “I am begging the president, share with us the information you have about this or please stop saying it,” Graham said.