This article originally appeared on Time.
President Trump will be asking officials to launch a “major investigation” into whether millions of people illegally voted in the 2016 election, he said Wednesday, continuing to push the demonstrably false claim that his popular vote loss to Hillary Clinton was a product of fraud.
Trump made the announcement in a pair of early-morning Twitter posts, a day after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed to reporters that the new President “continues to maintain that belief” that 3 to 5 million people cast fraudulent votes last year. There is no evidence to back up that claim, which has been repeatedly debunked by independent experts, fact-checkers and a bipartisan cast of election officials across the country.
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“I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and…. even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time),” Trump wrote. “Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!”
I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and….
Spicer on Tuesday cited “studies and evidence that people have presented” to Trump for his accusation that millions illegally voted for Clinton. The author of one study Spicer alluded to has repeatedly made clear the study does not support that assertion.
