President Donald Trump believes that voter fraud occurred in the November election "based on studies and evidence that people have presented to him," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesday.
"The president does believe that," Spicer told reporters in response to a question at the daily White House briefing. "I think he has stated his concerns of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign based on studies and evidence people have presented to him.
"I have said the president has believed that for a while, based on information and the studies he has," he reiterated in response to a follow-up question.
Spicer's remarks came after Trump told congressional leaders on Monday privately that he would have won the popular vote in the Nov. 8 election if 3 million to 5 million illegal immigrants living in the United States had not voted.
Trump made the claim, without offering any evidence, at a White House meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders, according to one Democratic aide familiar with the exchange who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
Spicer on Tuesday only cited a 2012 report by the Pew Research Center that called for a greater need to update the nation's voter registration systems but did not conclude that pervasive election fraud had taken place.
He also refused to say whether he personally believed that voter fraud had occurred.
"Anything's possible," Spicer said. "It's an electoral based system, 33 of 50 states voted for him.
When pressed further on his views, the spokesman only responded, "It means I've answered your question."
Spicer spent more than five years as communications director for the Republican National Committee prior to becoming White House press secretary.
No evidence of widespread tampering or hacking has been detected that would have changed the results of the election.
Trump won 304 Electoral College votes to Hillary Clinton's 227, but the Democrat won the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes.
During the campaign, Trump repeatedly claimed that voter fraud was occurring, charging that the system was "rigged" against him.
In late November, he said on Twitter that he would have won the popular vote "if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."
He also alleged then that "serious voter fraud" had occurred in California, New Hampshire and Virginia — complaining that the media was not covering it.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Tuesday that voter fraud "does happen" — though he would not comment on Trump's claim that it affected the popular vote.
"It does occur," he told reporters at a press conference at the Capitol, The Hill reports. "The notion that election fraud is a fiction is not true.
"There are always arguments on both sides about how much, how frequent and all the rest," McConnell said.
When asked about Trump's comments, the majority leader noted that there were "people literally in jail in Kentucky" for voter fraud.
Heading from the White House meeting on Monday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California alluded to whether Trump made the fraud comments, saying that the president and the lawmakers discussed "the different Electoral College, popular vote."
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, also of California, responded "I won't even go into that" when she was asked about the Trump comments on Monday.
Other Republicans continued to slam President Trump for the comments on Tuesday, with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham calling them "the most inappropriate thing for the president to say without proof.
"If the president of the United States is claiming that 3.5 million people voted illegally, that shakes confidence in our democracy," he told CNN at the Capitol. "He needs to disclose why he believes that. I don't believe that.
"It is the most inappropriate thing for the president to say without proof."
Graham, who also campaigned for the 2016 Republican nomination, said that Vice President Al Gore in 2000 "walked away based on 500 or 600 votes, Richard Nixon [in 1960] lost by a close election.
"We're talking about a man who won the election and seems to be obsessed that he lost on popular vote.
"You won," Graham continued. "People are going to start doubting you if you keep making accusations against our elections.
"He is going to erode the democracy of this country if he does not stop it."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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