White House defends Joe Biden following his remarks that midterm elections could be illegitimate

The White House supported President Joe Biden on Thursday after he said the 2018 midterm elections "may easily be fraudulent."

In her statement on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki stressed that the president was not casting doubt on the 2022 election. "In 2020, a record number of voters turned out in the face of a pandemic, and election officials ensured those votes would be counted," she said.

“He was explaining that the results would be illegitimate if states do what the former president asked them to do after the 2020 election: toss out ballots and overturn results after the fact. The Big Lie is putting our democracy at risk. We’re fighting to protect it,” she added, using a term Democrats have favored that attempts to tie claims that the 2020 election was riddled with fraud to Nazi propaganda.

“I’m not going to say it’s going to be legit. It’s—the increase and the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reforms passed,” he also said.

As well as many Democrats in Congress, Biden supports bills that would federalize elections. He argues the bills are necessary because states have been passing laws restricting voting access and tightening election security.

20 Jan 2022