Donald Trump Rages Against Hillary Clinton Team Over Recount Efforts in Wisconsin
President-elect Donald Trump teed off on Hillary Clinton’s campaign team early Sunday, following the announcement that it would participate in the vote recount efforts started by Jill Stein, the Green party’s presidential nominee.
Mr. Trump took to his favorite social media platform, Twitter, calling the efforts “sad” and declaring that “nothing will change” despite the time and money that will be spent.
The president-elect also mentioned Clinton’s remarks during one presidential debate, when she called it “horrifying” that Mr. Trump was declining to say he would absolutely accept the general election results.
On the Wednesday after the election tallies came in, Clinton, in a concession speech, had urged her supporters to “accept” the results.
“Donald Trump is going to be our president,” she said at the time. “We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.”
The tweetstorm early Sunday was a continuation of the president-elect’s rampageSaturday on Stein’s “ridiculous” recount attempts, when he issued a lengthy statement about how the donations -- now amounting to over $6 million -- were just meant to “fill her coffers with money.”
“This is a scam by the Green Party for an election that has already been conceded, and the results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused, which is exactly what Jill Stein is doing,” he said in a statement issued by his transition team.
On Saturday, Marc Elias, the Clinton campaign’s general counsel, announced that the campaign would “participate” in the Wisconsin recount, for which Stein’s representatives have already filed the paperwork. (If Stein follows through with petitioning for recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan, the Clinton campaign also intends to join their efforts in those states.) In Wisconsin, Mr. Trump’s vote margin numbered just over 27,000 ballots. If the three states were to flip to Clinton victories, she would win the general election with 278 electoral votes, though that scenario seems very unlikely. It is rare that recounts change the result of a race.
Wisconsin’s elections commission is slated to discuss the state’s recount timeline early Monday morning on a conference call with reporters.
The state will be working to complete the recount by the Dec. 13 federal deadline.
Clinton currently leads Mr. Trump by over 2.2 million votes, according to the Cook Political Report.
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