Biden campaign slams Trump's latest unwillingness to accept results of 2024 election
President Joe Biden's campaign on Thursday attacked former President Donald Trump after Trump doubled down on saying that he wouldn't commit to accepting the results of the upcoming presidential election.
"If everything's honest, I'll gladly accept the results. I don't change on that," Trump said in an interview on Wednesday with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "If it's not, you have to fight for the right of the country."
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, did go on to say he anticipates the 2024 election will be "honest."
In response to Trump's comments, the Biden campaign released a statement accusing Trump of being a "danger to the Constitution and a threat to our democracy."
"President Biden has said, 'You can't love your country only when you win.' But for Donald Trump, his campaign for revenge and retribution reigns supreme," Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement.
Asked on Thursday afternoon by ABC News' Karen Travers if he were worried that Trump wouldn't accept the election results, Biden said "listen to what he says."
Trump's latest comments come after an interview published this week in TIME Magazine where Trump hinged potential political violence on if he won or not.
"I don't think we're going to have that. I think we're going to win," Trump told TIME Magazine when asked about future political violence. "And if we don't win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election."
On the campaign trail, Trump has been vocalizing doubts about the outcome of the 2024 election. He has claimed that his legal battles are a form of "election interference," as he has had to juggle campaign appearances with required in-person court attendance during his New York hush money trial. Prosecutors have denied any political motivations.
Trump has also bashed early-voting methods such as mail-in voting, as the Republican National Committee seeks to encourage more Republican voters to embrace these voting methods.
Trump also continues to spread false claims about the security of the 2020 election.
On Wednesday, speaking at rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan, where the 2020 election results were heavily contested, Trump continued to falsely suggest that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, but attempted to assure his supporters that their ballots will be secured even for early voting and mail-in voting.
"Democrats rigged the presidential election in 2020, but we're not going to allow them to rig the presidential election, the most important day of our lives in 2024," Trump falsely claimed at his rally in Freeland, Michigan.
"No matter how you vote, whether it's early, on election day, by mail or in person, it doesn't matter, we'll make sure your ballot is secure," Trump continued. "We want to make you sure, but we're going to be sure that your ballots are secure. You're not going to put in ballots that don't count."
But Trump's continued false claims about a "rigged" election have already fueled distrust in the 2024 election system within a large portion of Trump's support base -- with multiple attendees at his Wednesday rally telling ABC News that they don't have faith in the current election system in the United States.
"I feel that Michigan went for Trump, but I don't have any hard data to support that," Don Barnard of Sanford, Michigan, who attended the Michigan rally, said of the 2020 presidential election.
"Do I have questions about how the election was conducted? Yes. But can I say because of this and because of that? No," Barnard continued regarding the 2020 election. "Obviously there's little I can do, and all I can do is pray we will have an honest election."
Another Michigan rally attendee, Martin Humphrey of Saginaw, Michigan, told ABC News, who also said he currently doesn't have any faith in the election system, called for stricter laws governing voter ID and so-called ballot harvesting, a practice in which individuals or groups collect large amounts of mail-in ballots from vulnerable populations like the elderly and submit them en masse. In more than 30 states, someone other than the voter is allowed to return a ballot on behalf of another voter.
"I think that everyone should have an ID to vote," Humphrey said. "And ballot harvesting should be stopped."
