Politico reports:
In a private meeting inside Trump Tower days before his inauguration, Donald Trump told a group of civil rights leaders something most Republicans wouldn’t dare publicly acknowledge: lower turnout among Black voters did, in fact, benefit him in the 2016 presidential election.
“Many Blacks didn’t go out to vote for Hillary ‘cause they liked me. That was almost as good as getting the vote, you know, and it was great,” the president-elect said, according to an audio recording of the meeting shared with POLITICO.
Three-and-a-half years later, those comments take on new weight, as Democrats and Republicans battle over restrictions on voting amid an historic pandemic. Trump has repeatedly alleged, without evidence, that expanding mail-in voting will lead to massive fraud, and Republicans have filed lawsuits against a number of states attempting to do so.
In a private meeting inside Trump Tower days before his inauguration, the president-elect told a group of civil rights leaders that lower turnout among Black voters did, in fact, benefit him in the 2016 electionhttps://t.co/sIRgYcmfIT
— POLITICO (@politico) August 21, 2020
? EXCLUSIVE: 4 days before his inauguration, @realDonaldTrump told a group of civil rights activists — including Martin Luther King Jr's son — that he owed his win to low Black turnout because Black voters not voting "was almost as good" as voting for him https://t.co/UKaaPvlt8v
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) August 21, 2020
Trump caught on tape bragging about low Black turnout helping the GOP: ‘It was great’ https://t.co/qtT4yJL5U1 pic.twitter.com/dmVH49sGNT
— CitizenWonk (@CitizenWonk) August 21, 2020