Trump lashes out

Trump lashes out at Republicans for not buying election rigging line

By POLITICO Staff

Donald Trump on Monday morning lashed out at Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who have pushed back against the Republican nominee’s message that the election is being rigged against him.

“Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!” Trump tweeted.

He followed up with a unity message for the deeply fractured Republican Party, saying, “We have all got to come together and win this election. We can't have four more years of Obama (or worse!).”

Trump’s campaign has been thrown into a tailspin by the release of a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape in which the billionaire cavalierly talks cavalierly about being able to get away with sexual assault and the subsequent march of females who have accused him of groping them.

The Republican nominee has pushed back forcefully, promising to offer evidence to refute his female accusers, while accusing the media of blindly giving a megaphone to the women and trying to rig the election against him.

On Monday morning, Trump expressed disbelief that his female accusers are being viewed as credible, and pushed the idea that Vice President Joe Biden is guilty of being a groper.

“Can't believe these totally phoney [sic] stories, 100% made up by women (many already proven false) and pushed big time by press, have impact!” Trump tweeted.

He followed up with a retweet from New York radio host Mark Simone, who tweeted out a video with the message, “Watch Joe Biden's Long History Of Grabbing, Kissing and Groping Women Who Are Cringing.”

The video is a compilation of Biden offering lingering hugs and tender gestures to Hillary Clinton and female family members during the Senate ceremonial swearing-in. Biden, who has long been an advocate of sexual assault prevention, directly called Trump's talk on the "Access Hollywood" tape "sexual assault."

Biden's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Continuing his spree, Trump retweeted Infowars editor-at-large Paul Joseph Watson, who had promoted a Daily Caller article about former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos, with Watson writing, “Trump accuser praised him in an email as recently as April! This is all yet another hoax.”

Trump has also been tangling with Ryan ever since the House speaker abandoned him early last week. Ryan’s office over the weekend appeared to further undermine Trump’s message that the election is being engineered in Clinton’s favor, coming out with a statement on Saturday saying Ryan is “fully confident” in the election system.

“Our democracy relies on confidence in election results, and the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity,” said Ryan spokesperson AshLee Strong.

Trump continued to trash Ryan over the weekend, as the nominee geared up for a Monday evening rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The billionaire fired off a series of tweets Sunday afternoon and evening, calling Ryan a loser.

“The Democrats have a corrupt political machine pushing crooked Hillary Clinton. We have Paul Ryan, always fighting the Republican nominee!” he messaged, following up with, “Paul Ryan, a man who doesn't know how to win (including failed run four years ago), must start focusing on the budget, military, vets etc.”

And he accused Ryan of doing nothing to ensure Clinton doesn’t win next month. “Wow, interview released by Wikileakes shows ‘quid pro quo’ in Crooked Hillary e-mail probe.Such a dishonest person - & Paul Ryan does zilch!”

But even as Trump tussles with Republicans who are not willing to push his election rigging message, the nominee’s own running mate has not been willing to go as far as Trump.

"We will absolutely accept the result of the election," Pence said during an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press” on Sunday, adding that the GOP ticket will "accept the will of the American people."