Trump: 'I Won The Popular Vote If You Deduct The Millions Who Voted Illegally'

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that besides winning the Electoral College "in a landslide" in the Nov. 8 election: "I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."

The allegation, made without evidence, comes as Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's lead in the popular vote over Trump has surpassed 2 million votes and is expected to grow to more than 2.5 million as ballots in populous states such as California continue to be tallied.

Clinton's legal team said on Saturday it had agreed to participate in a recount of Wisconsin votes after the state's election board approved the effort requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, which Trump has called "ridiculous."

"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 as reporters waited for him to leave his Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida to fly back to his residence in New York City.

Hillary Clinton conceded the election when she called me just prior to the victory speech and after the results were in. Nothing will change

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

Hillary's debate answer on delay: "That is horrifying. That is not the way our democracy works. Been around for 240 years. We've had free —

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

and fair elections. We've accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them, and that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a –

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

during a general election. I, for one, am appalled that somebody that is the nominee of one of our two major parties would take that kind —

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

of position." Then, separately she stated, "He said something truly horrifying … he refused to say that he would respect the results of —

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

this election. That is a direct threat to our democracy." She then said, "We have to accept the results and look to the future, Donald —

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

Trump is going to be our President. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead." So much time and money will be spent – same result! Sad

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

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

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

It would have been much easier for me to win the so-called popular vote than the Electoral College in that I would only campaign in 3 or 4–

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

states instead of the 15 states that I visited. I would have won even more easily and convincingly (but smaller states are forgotten)!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016

[excerpt] …”How many non-citizen votes were likely cast in 2008? Taking the most conservative estimate (those who both said they voted and cast a verified vote) yields a confidence interval based on sampling error between 0.2% and 2.8% for the portion of non-citizens participating in elections.


Taking the least conservative measure e at least one indicator showed that the respondent voted yields an estimate that between 7.9% and 14.7% percent of non-citizens voted in 2008.

Since the adult noncitizen population of the United States was roughly 19.4 million (CPS, 2011), the number of non-citizen voters (including both uncertainty based on normally distributed sampling error, and the various combinations of verified and reported voting) could range from just over 38,000 at the very minimum to nearly 2.8 million at the maximum”…