A man that President Donald Trump referenced on voter fraud appeared on CNN Friday, but he didn’t show any proof of fraud, saying that it will be released in due time.
“We’re going to release all of this to the public. We are going to release our methodology and release the broad data and our conclusions and we’re going to release everything to the public as soon as we get done with the checks,” he said, when pressed by CNN’s Chris Cuomo. “(We) believe it will probably take another few months to get this done.”
On Tuesday night, the president made a reference to Phillips, saying that at least 3 million voted illegally.
“Look forward to seeing final results of VoteStand. Gregg Phillips and crew say at least 3,000,000 votes were illegal. We must do better!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Look forward to seeing final results of VoteStand. Gregg Phillips and crew say at least 3,000,000 votes were illegal. We must do better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2017
And on Friday, Phillips tweeted: “Thank you Mr. President. Catherine Engelbrecht and [email protected] will lead the analysis and reporting effort from here. [email protected]”
Phillips is the former Texas Health and Human Services Commission deputy commissioner, and he’s now the founder of a self-described big data software company, according to his website. He also created an app called VoteStand, aiming at voter fraud.
As CNN reported, here is how the exchange occurred:
“Do you have the proof?” asked Cuomo.
“Yes,” replied Phillips.
“Will you provide it?” replied Cuomo.
“Yes,” said Phillips.
“Can I have it?” pressed Cuomo.
“No,” said Phillips.
The evidence, he said, will be released “when the time is right.”
Phillips’s claims on Friday have been widely derided by mainstream media outlets.
However, a study from Old Dominion University on Friday said that Clinton could have received 800,000 votes from noncitizens, the Washington Times reported. “Is it plausible that non-citizen votes added to Clinton’s margin? Yes,” political scientist Jesse Richman, of the university, wrote. “Is it plausible that non-citizen votes account for the entire nation-wide popular vote margin held by Clinton? Not at all.”
Trump this week added that he will conduct a “major investigation” into alleged voter fraud. “Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!” the president tweeted.
