On Sunday, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., echoed President Joe Biden’s words last week that the upcoming election would be “free and fair” but perhaps not “peaceful.”
“If close, if [former President] Donald Trump is losing again, which I expect he’s going to oppose,” Schiff told host Kristen Welker on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “Not because of any flaw in the election, but because he believes Donald Trump will run if he doesn’t succeed at the ballot box, and maybe he has reason.” prison. Therefore, he will protest the results.”
His comments after comments Buy Biden tWhite House press briefing room The president told reporters on Friday that he was confident the upcoming elections would be “free and fair” but that he did not know “whether they would be peaceful.”
“What the president said was very accurate — shockingly, breathtakingly, tragically accurate — and that, yes, I think the election will be free and fair, but will it be free of violence at the end of the day?” Schiff said Sunday.
Schiff cited the January 6, 2021 riots at the Capitol as an example of the violence that followed Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
The congressman, who is running for the Senate this year, told Welker: “It’s the legacy of Donald Trump that we can’t go into an election now with absolute certainty that the outcome will be peaceful.”
NBC News has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
He added that he expected Harris to win the election, but that it was “still frighteningly close” and that larger-than-expected margins could prevent the threat of violence over the outcome of the election.
“That’s why margin is so important [Republicans] when they lose, they will protest the results. Maximizing that margin and getting people out has to be our priority,” Schiff said.