When Republican Supporter Bizarrely Claimed '3 Million Illegal Votes' Made Trump Lose the Elections

Former President Donald Trump has falsely maintained that about 3-5 million illegal voters caused him to lose the popular vote against Hillary Clinton in 2016, as per CNN. “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” Trump tweeted then. Echoing the same, Republican party supporters insisted that undocumented individuals were causing voter fraud in a post-election interview with CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota. "Voting is a privilege in this country and you need to be legal not like California where three million illegals voted," a woman supporter said. "Let's talk about that. I'm glad I brought that up, Allison," Camerota said. "Me too, Paula. So where are you getting your information? From the media." "Where else were we getting it? Some of it was CNN, I believe," the woman said.

"CNN said that three million illegal people voted?" the host asked. "Well, it was coming all across the media, all across, but CNN didn't do it and they were being smart this time. Do you think that three million illegal people voted?" "I believe in California that there were illegals that voted," the woman said. "How many? I don't." "To tell you the truth, nobody really knows that number. But do you think three dozen or do you think three million?" "I think there was a good amount because the president told people that they could vote and it happened in Nashua. We caught some people that they went into Nashua and they said the president said I can vote, I'm here illegally," the woman continued.  "Did you hear President Obama say that illegal people could vote?" the CNN journalist asked. "Yes, I did hear." "Tell me, where? On, you can find it, Google it, you can find it on Facebook." "All right, hold on." "You, as you sit here today, think that millions of illegal people voted in this country. You believe that there was widespread voting abuse." "I think there was in some states. In the millions of people? California allows it." "They do not allow illegal, you mean voter fraud California allows?" The woman asserted "I believe there is voter fraud in this country".

Netizens reacted to Trump's false claims saying, @zinga_za reasoned: JAN 22 2017 “Between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes caused me to lose the popular vote.” This is a fantasy. Trump is obsessed with how he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes, and so he keeps making this claim even though there is no evidence to support it." @RobertLusetich criticized: "Much like Trump said Hillary only won the popular vote because she got 3 million illegal votes. And in 4 years as president, with the vast resources of the United States Government at his disposal, he found precisely 0 of those "illegal votes".

@arnold_ramona questioned: "With all the money, Trump grifted from his PACand He could’ve hired the best sleuths and investigators in the world to go out to bring concrete viable proof & laid it on the table for the world for the nation to see! Funny, never has he done that."@henry_kaufman20 tweeted: "Trump won the 2016 election, but he lost the popular vote by 3 million. Claiming there were up to 5 million votes cast by non-citizens, Trump set up an Advisory Commission to study illegal voting, that found nothing & in less than a year was disbanded. What Was That?" 

As per NPR, Trump's baseless assertion was first made by radio presenter Alex Jones and the website Infowars, who claimed—based on faulty evidence—that 3 million individuals cast ballots fraudulently.  Politifact tracked down Trump's claims and discovered that the Infowars article included tweets from a person claiming to have such information about illicit voting but refusing to supply it, as well as a report that was not real.

Additionally, the fact-checking organization cites numerous reports that indicate there have only been a few unusual votes in recent years. "Just 56 cases of noncitizens voting between 2000 and 2011" were discovered by one investigation. Trump had further stated: “Serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire, and California - so why isn’t the media reporting on this? Serious bias - big problem!”

Given that the Electoral College determines election results, Trump's assertions regarding the popular vote would be irrelevant. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla responded to Trump's tweets with a statement: "It appears that Mr. Trump is troubled by the fact that a growing majority of Americans did not vote for him. His unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in California and elsewhere are absurd. His reckless tweets are inappropriate and unbecoming of a President-elect."