Multiple CNN hosts slammed Democrat President Joe Biden on Wednesday evening after Biden said during his first press conference in months that elections might be “illegitimate” if his left-wing voting agenda is not passed.
A reporter first asked Biden, “Speaking of voting rights legislation, if this isn’t passed, do you still believe the upcoming election will be fairly conducted and its results will be legitimate?”
Biden responded that “it all depends on whether or not we’re able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election.”
Later during the press conference, a second reporter brought up the issue again and sought clarification from Biden on it.
“I just wanted to clarify: A moment ago, you were asked whether or not you believed that we would have free and fair elections in 2022 if some of these state legislatures reformed their voting protocols,” the reporter said. “You said that it depends. Do you — do you think that they would in any way be illegitimate?”
“Oh, yeah, I think it easily could be — be illegitimate,” Biden responded. “Imagine — imagine if, in fact, Trump has succeeded in convincing Pence to not count the votes.”
When he was asked if he thought that could be the case with the upcoming midterms, Biden said, “I mean, imagine if those attempts to say that the count was not legit.”
“You have to recount it and we’re not going to count — we’re going to discard the following votes,” Biden said. “I mean, sure, but — 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 — these reforms passed.”
The following CNN hosts responded to Biden’s remarks after the press conference:
- John King: “It is striking to hear an American president not named Donald Trump raise questions about the legitimacy and sanctity of our democracy.”
- Jake Tapper: “And quite strikingly, the President said that the upcoming midterm elections might not be legitimate if the election reform bills before the Senate are not passed. … President Biden just said, with Donald Trump’s history when it comes to the big lie on the elections, but he refused to say that the election results this midterm — in these midterms in November would be legitimate. He refused it.”
- Dana Bash: “Well, particularly the first part, Anderson, what he said, was — actually the entire thing, but the first part was probably the most jarring to hear a President of the United States who is not Donald Trump, even suggest ahead of time that an election isn’t legitimate.”
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