Trump's campaign manager tries to clarify his concession comments

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published 20 October 2016

In an interview Thursday morning, Donald Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway attempted to explain what Trump actually meant to say when he refused to commit to accepting the results of the election during the debate Wednesday night. When asked by moderator Chris Wallace whether he would acquiesce, Trump cryptically said he would keep everyone "in suspense" and "look at it at the time."

In Conway's translation, that apparently means he will not concede until the results are certain. "He's saying that until the results are actually known, certified, and verified, he's not going to concede an election. He just doesn't know what will happen," Conway said in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos. Conway explained that if you couple his response at the first presidential debate that he would "absolutely support" Hillary Clinton if she won with his response last night, "you see somebody who's willing to accept the election absent widespread fraud."

Conway then cited the 2000 election as evidence Trump's approach is wise. "I imagine if you had asked Al Gore in 2000 if he was going to respect the election results, he would have said yes," she said. "He actually called to concede the election to Gov. George W. Bush, called back to retract the concession and, as you know, George, we had six weeks until the Supreme Court of the United States decided who the next president would be."