I may not accept result of election, threatens Trump
DONALD Trump joked last night that he will accept the result of the US Presidential election – but only if he wins.
The Republican candidate, currently six points behind in the polls, then threatened that he might file a legal challenge if defeated.
Mr Trump, 70, had shocked America by declining to pledge during the third Presidential debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday night that he would accept the result of the election.
The extraordinary refusal effectively challenged one of the core principles of the US electoral system and caused outrage.
Suspense
Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, 68, told the debate audience his attitude was “horrifying”.
But yesterday at a rally in Delaware, Ohio, Mr Trump tried to take the heat out of the row with the joke.
He said: “I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters and to all of the people of the United States that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic Presidential election – if I win.”
He then added: “Of course I would accept a clear election result but I would reserve my right to file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result.”
Mr Trump has previously claimed that the election is a fix, prompting Presidential debate moderator Chris Wallace to challenge him to agree to accept the result on November 8.
Pressed, Mr Trump responded: “What I’m saying now is I will tell you at the time. I will keep you in suspense, OK?”
Mrs Clinton responded: “That is horrifying. Every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is is rigged against him.”
The debate, the third and final one before the election, saw clashes on immigration and relations with Russia.
Mr Trump accused Mrs Clinton of wanting to give illegal migrants an amnesty and said that he wanted to throw out drug lords and “bad hombres”. Mrs Clinton replied that Mr Trump’s plan for mass deportations would “rip our country apart”.
Mrs Clinton then demanded that Mr Trump stop praising Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Trump responded by pointing to Mrs Clinton, the former US Secretary of State, and saying: “From everything I see he has no respect for this person.”
Yoga teacher Karena Virginia, 45, has become the latest in a line of women who say Mr Trump groped them.
She told a press conference that he touched her breast at the US Open tennis event in 1998 when she was 27. Mr Trump did not immediately respond to the claim.