“This is a very dangerous lie. This is the kind of lie designed to confer legitimacy where it doesn’t exist and to create hatred and blame where it is not deserved. The President must apologize for it and leaders in Congress who sat there and listened to it must repudiate it.

“The President lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes and has no one to blame for that but himself. There is absolutely no evidence of any pattern of illegal voting in the past election. If anything, the evidence points in the other direction. We just went through the first presidential election since the Civil Rights era without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. As a result, 868 polling places were closed in states that were previously subject to federal oversight due to a history of discrimination against communities of color. This is called voter suppression.  If the President was truly concerned about the integrity of elections, he would make full restoration of the Voting Rights Act a priority. But he appears instead to be driven by his deep insecurity over his unprecedented unpopularity.

“President Trump continues to demonstrate a shameful lack of regard for both the truth and the fundamental values of our democracy. His inability to accept reality destabilizes our democratic institutions and shames our country on the world stage. These lies portend a coming assault on both undocumented individuals and on voting rights by his administration. Bend the Arc calls on Congressional leaders from both parties to disavow this dangerous lie and its frightening goals. Bend the Arc will continue to fight back against any efforts by President Trump and his allies that target our immigrant brothers and sisters or seek to suppress the vote.”

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