Biden "convinced" military will escort Trump from White House if he loses election and doesn't leave
Joe Biden said he believes President Trump will "try to steal" the election in November and that he is "absolutely convinced" the military will escort Mr. Trump out of the White House if he loses the election and doesn't leave.
The presumptive Democratic nominee said ensuring a fair vote is his "single greatest concern."
"This president is going to try to steal this election," Biden said Wednesday in an interview on "The Daily Show With Trevor Noah."
"This is the guy who said all mail-in ballots are fraudulent, voting by mail, while he sits behind a desk in the Oval Office and writes his mail-in ballot to vote in a primary."
The former vice president also noted how many states have passed laws making it harder for citizens to vote.
Biden said he has considered the possibility that Mr. Trump might refuse to leave office if he loses. But he said he was encouraged after seeing former and current U.S. military officials speak out against the president's support for using force against peaceful protesters calling for police reform.
"I was so damn proud. You have four chiefs of staff coming out and ripping the skin off of Trump, and you have so many rank-and-file military personnel saying, 'Whoa, we're not a military state. This is not who we are,'" Biden said. "I promise you, I'm absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch."
This is not the first time Biden said he believes Mr. Trump intends to tamper with the election. Biden said in April he thinks the president will "try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can't be held."
The White House dismissed Biden's accusations as a "ridiculous proposition."
"This president's looking forward to November. This president's hard at work for the American people," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News on Thursday. "And leave it to Democrats to go out there and grandstand and level these conspiracy theories."
Mr. Trump has insisted the election will happen as planned on November 3, even as the country continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
The president has, however, repeatedly attacked the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, which some states have expanded during the pandemic to reduce the risks of in-person voting. Mr. Trump has claimed mail-in voting leads to widespread voting fraud, although past elections and studies of voting show no evidence to back up his belief. The president's false claims about mail-in voting fraud recently led to Twitter fact-checking his tweets for the first time.
Mr. Trump voted by mail in March for Florida's presidential primary.