US President-elect Donald Trump has described an impending recount of votes in the swing state of Wisconsin as a “scam” and said the results of the presidential election should be respected instead of being challenged or “abused”
Donald Trump
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Washington: US President-elect Donald Trump has described an impending recount of votes in the swing state of Wisconsin as a “scam” and said the results of the presidential election should be respected instead of being challenged or “abused”.
The push to recount was spearheaded by Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein, who is also seeking recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Trump registered narrow victories against Hillary Clinton in the November 8 presidential elections in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, with Michigan too close to call.
The billionaire, who claimed that the election was “rigged” before his victory, insisted in a statement that the results should be “respected, instead of being challenged and abused”.
He alleged it was a way for Stein — who has raised $5.9 million toward a $7 million target for the recount push — to “fill her coffers with money”.
“The people have spoken and the election is over, as Hillary Clinton herself said on election night,” Trump said, a day after the Green Party candidate moved a petition for the recounting in Wisconsin, which was accepted by the State Election Commission.
The Hillary Clinton Campaign said on Saturday that it is joining the Green Party in the recounting move. It said it would also support the recounting of votes in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
“This recount is just a way for Jill Stein, who received less than one per cent of the vote overall, to fill her coffers with money, most of which she will never even spend on this ridiculous recount. All three states were won by large numbers of votes, especially Pennsylvania, which was won by more than 70,000 votes,” said the president-elect.