President Obama laughed at suggestions by Republican candidate Donald Trump warning of the possibility of voter fraud in the upcoming 2016 presidential election.
The president responded to the allegations during a press conference Thursday evening, stating it is merely a “conspiracy theory” being spread by Trump and that the election “will not be rigged.”
“I don’t even really know where to start on answering this question,” Obama told a reporter. “Of course the elections will not be rigged. What does that mean?”
Obama argued the rumor was preposterous because local and state governments run elections, and “in places like Texas” Democrats don’t control the voting booths.
“If Mr. Trump is suggesting that there is a conspiracy theory that is being propagated across the country – including in places like Texas, where typically it’s not Democrats who are in charge of voting booths – that’s ridiculous, that doesn’t make any sense, and I don’t think anyone should take that seriously.”
The “Texas” comment was an apparent jab at Infowars’ Alex Jones, who previously warned of a possibly rigged election outcome.
Watch Alex Jones’ response to Obama:
Earlier this week Trump cast doubt on the electoral process at a rally and in interviews stating he felt the general election could be rigged.
“I’m afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest,” Trump said at an Ohio rally on Tuesday.
.@realDonaldTrump on general election: "I'm afraid the election's going to be rigged." https://t.co/kWyyUU03lX
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 1, 2016
The GOP nominee later reiterated the remarks to Fox News’ Sean Hannity and in an interview with the Washington Post, stating, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the election … there’s a lot of dirty pool played at the election, meaning the election is rigged. I would not be surprised.”
Trump also called out the rigged process amid the Republican primaries, but his massive landslide victories counteracted attempts to rig the system, a tactic Infowars’ Alex Jones encouraged is needed in order to defeat the Clinton machine in the general election.
“If she stole the primary, she’s going to try to steal the general election,” Jones cautioned, adding, “We need a referendum supporting free and open elections in this country, and that referendum is a landslide for Trump – we’ve got to call this fraud out for what she is.”
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