Joe Biden Claims 2022 Elections ‘Could Easily Be Illegitimate’

President Joe Biden is facing criticism for suggesting that the 2022 midterm elections may not be legitimate if Congress does not pass sweeping voting rights legislation.

During his tenth press conference in office, Biden was asked if he believes the 2022 midterm elections will be “fairly conducted” and have “legitimate” results if the Senate did not pass sweeping voting rights legislation.

“Well, it all depends on whether or not we’ll be able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election,” he responded.

He continued, “And it’s one thing… Maybe I’m just being too much of an optimist. Remember how we thought not that many people would show up to vote in the middle of a pandemic? We had the highest voter turnout in the history of the United States of America.”

He went on:

“I think if, in fact, no matter how hard they make it for minorities to vote, I think you’re going to see them willing to stand in line and defy the attempt to keep them from being able to vote. I think you’re going to see the people they’re trying to keep from being able to show up, showing up, and making the sacrifice that needs to be made in order to change the law back to what it should be. But it’s going to be difficult.”

Watch the video below:

RealClearPolitics White House reporter Phil Wegmann asked the president to clarify if he was suggesting that the election could be illegitimate.

“Oh, yeah, I think it could easily be illegitimate. Imagine, imagine if, in fact, Trump had succeeded in convincing Mike Pence to not count the votes,” Biden began.

When Wegmann interjected to note that he was referring to the midterms, Biden said, “Oh, 2022. I mean imagine if those attempts to say that the count was not legit. You have to recount it, and we’re not going to count, we’re going to discard the following votes.”

“I mean, sure, but I’m not saying it is going to be legit. The increase and the prospect of being illegitimate is in direct proportion to us not being able to get these reforms passed,” he added.

Biden received fierce backlash for suggesting that the election results may not be legitimate:

Hours later, Senate Democrats failed in their efforts to pass voting rights legislation.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tried to clean up Biden’s comments on Thursday morning, tweeting, “Lets be clear: was not casting doubt on the legitimacy of the 2022 election. He was making the opposite point: In 2020, a record number of voters turned out in the face of a pandemic, and election officials made sure they could vote and have those votes counted.”

“He was explaining that the results would be illegitimate if states do what the former president asked them to do after the 2020 election: toss out ballots and overturn results after the fact. The Big Lie is putting our democracy at risk. We’re fighting to protect it,” she added.