'You have provided absolutely no evidence': Stephanopoulos grills Trump adviser in a testy interview about voter fraud

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george stephanopolous

ABC

George Stephanopoulos during an interview with Trump adviser Stephen Miller.

ABC anchor George Stephanopolous grilled President Donald Trump's top policy adviser in a testy Sunday exchange over the president's unfounded voter fraud claims.

During an interview on "This Week," host Stephanopolous pressed Stephen Miller to provide evidence for Trump's unfounded allegations this week that voters were bused into New Hampshire from Massachusetts during the 2016 election, costing him and former Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte the state. 

Without evidence, Miller suggested that there was voter fraud not only in the 2016 campaign, but in other New Hampshire races as well, suggesting that the ABC anchor "talk to anybody who's worked in politics there for a long time."

"Having worked before on a campaign in New Hampshire, I can tell you that this issue of busing voters in to New Hampshire is widely known by anyone who's worked in New Hampshire politics," Miller said. "It's very real, it's very serious. This morning on this show is not the venue for me lay out all the evidence, but I can tell you this: Voter fraud is a serious problem in this country."

After Miller continued to insist that New Hampshire was a hotbed for voter fraud activity, the ABC anchor pointed out that the adviser offered no evidence that there was voter fraud.

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"Hold a second. I'm asking you as the White House senior policy adviser, the president made a statement saying he was the victim of voter fraud," Stephanopolous said. "Do you have any evidence?"

Trump's adviser suggested instead that "if this is an issue that interests you, then we can talk about it more in the future," Stephanopolous should "invite Kris Kobach onto your show and he can walk you through some of the evidence of voter fraud."

Kobach, Kansas' secretary of state and prominent a Trump-backer, previously cited a 2012 Pew Research Center study that found that million voter registrations were outdated in 2008. The author of the study, often cited by Trump administration officials as proof of the president's claim, said last year that the researchers "found millions of out of date registration records due to people moving or dying, but found no evidence that voter fraud resulted."

When Stephanopoulos told Miller "you have provided absolutely no evidence" to support his claims, the policy adviser interjected, claiming the administration "provided enormous evidence," insisting that outdated voter registration roles were evidence of fraud, and claiming that immigrants living in the US without permission were voting en masse.

"George, it is a fact and you will not deny it, that are massive numbers of non-citizens in this country who are registered to vote. That is a scandal. We should stop the presses and as a country we should be aghast about the fact that you have people who have no right to vote in this country registered to vote, canceling out the franchise of lawful citizens of this country," Miller said.

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"That's the story we should be talking about. And I'm prepared to go on any show, anywhere, any time, and repeat it and say the President of the United States is correct, 100 percent."

The ABC anchor wrapped up the interview by reminding viewers that Miller did not provide any concrete evidence to support his claims.

"You just repeated that you just made those declarations, but for the record you've provided zero evidence that the president was the victim of massive voter fraud in New Hampshire," Stephanopolous said. 

He continued: "You have provided zero evidence of the president's claim that he would've won the popular vote if 3 to 5 million illegal immigrants hadn't voted. Zero evidence for either one of those claims. Thanks a lot for joining us in the morning."

When Miller replied that the Trump administration was going to "protect our country" from terrorism, voter fraud, and economic disparity, Stephanopolous ended the interview with a parting shot.

"You can start by providing evidence to back up your claims," he said.

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Since November, Trump has repeatedly suggested without evidence that voter fraud occurred on a massive scale in different parts of the country. In addition to his claims about New Hampshire, he insisted that millions of immigrants living in California without permission cost him the popular vote.

While independent election officials in states like California found zero evidence of fraud, Trump has insisted that he will launch an official federal government investigation to look into his own voter fraud allegations. 

Watch the interview below:

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