Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s truce and efforts
to “come together” after their bitter White House race appeared to fray
this weekend when Clinton joined in a vote recount effort that the
President-elect assailed in a series of Tweets Sunday.
In the posts, Trump claimed that "millions" of people
cast illegal votes in this month's presidential election, and claimed
that the press was covering the matter unfairly.
Trump further contended that if the popular vote
determined the presidency, "It would have been much easier for me to
win" it because he would have altered his campaign to pile up overall
vote totals, not Electoral College votes.
The real estate mogul also tweeted part of Clinton's
concession speech, when she told supporters they must accept that
"Donald Trump is going to be our president," and snippets from her
debate remarks, when she denounced the Republican nominee for refusing
to say in advance that he would accept the Election Day verdict.
There's been no indication of widespread vote
manipulation, illegal voting or hacking that materially affected the
outcome one way or the other. It's that very lack of evidence that
suggests Trump is likely to prevail in recounts.
Trump's social media storm came one day after a
Hillary for America lawyer said that Clinton would join in a vote-recall
effort by Green Party Candidate Jill Stein.
The attorney, Marc Elias, said Clinton was taking the
step “to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all
sides."
Stein has already raised at least $5.4 million in her
effort to recount votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin --
states that were the key to Trump's upset victory. She began the process
Friday by officially requesting a review in Wisconsin.
Stein has argued the recount is intended to test the
integrity of the U.S. voting system, amid so-far unfounded speculation
that Russia tampered with the process.
However, the effort also could undo the 70-plus electoral votes by which Trump beat Clinton.
Trump won Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and, as of
Wednesday, held a lead of almost 11,000 votes in Michigan, with the
results awaiting state certification Monday.
Stein received only about 1 percent of the national vote, which has prompted Trump to call her effort a fundraising “scam.”
“I would say (Trump) has been incredibly gracious and
magnanimous to Secretary Clinton at a time when for whatever reason her
folks are saying they will join in a recount,” senior Trump transition
team adviser Kellyanne Conway said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“She congratulated him and conceded to him on
election night. … The idea that we are going to drag this out now where
the president-elect has been incredibly magnanimous to the Clintons and
to the Obamas is incredible.”
Meanwhile, Conway refused to rule out the possibility
of further investigating Clinton over her use of a private email server
while secretary of state between 2009 and 2013.
Conway made clear that Trump said only that he
wouldn’t rule out another possible email probe because new evidence
could emerge and he wouldn’t want to undercut the authority of federal
and congressional investigators.
The FBI this summer concluded its one-year
investigation into Clinton using the private server by saying she was
“extremely careless” and that some of the emails included classified
information.
However, the investigation was effectively closed without criminal charges being recommended to the Justice Department.
Trump, in his presidential debates with Clinton, also
suggested that if elected he would appoint a special prosecutor for the
matter.
Trump planned to return to New York on Sunday after
spending Thanksgiving weekend at his West Palm Beach estate. His
transition team said the president-elect had scheduled a series of
meetings Monday with prospective administration hires. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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