After being hammered in the media for his continued claims of widespread voter fraud, President Donald Trump announced—via Twitter—Wednesday morning that he is asking for a "major investigation" into voter fraud, including "those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time)."
The President tweeted that, depending on what the investigation finds, "we will strengthen voting procedures.”
Trump had come under withering criticism, including from at least one prominent Republican, for claiming that millions had voted illegally, with one commentator on CNN suggesting he was either lying or delusional and many branding the allegation simply false and its continued assertion by the President troubling.
Some Democratic legislators and journalists had suggested that if the President believed in such widespread fraud, he should call for an investigation, and White House press secretary Sean Spicer did not rule it out in his press conference Tuesday.
The President also continued to focus on his inauguration audience Tuesday night, tweeting: "Congratulations to @FoxNews for being number one in inauguration ratings. They were many times higher than FAKE NEWS @CNN - public is smart!"
The President has been attacking CNN ever since it reported that he had been briefed by the intelligence community on an unsubstantiated dossier alleging ties to Russia and a lurid sexual incident.
In the daily White House briefing, press secretary Sean Spicer said the President would provide updates later in the week on what that voter fraud investigation would entail.
Spicer explained that the investigation the President was seeking was a broad look not just at the 2016 election, but into "the integrity of our voting system."
Spicer called voting the most sacred right in a Democracy, and that the President was trying to make sure that every ciizen's vote counts equally. "I think taking the necessary steps to study and to track what we can do to to both understand the scope of the problem and how to stop the problem is clearly in the best interest."
