There is "significant evidence" that there is voter fraud in the United States, but that shouldn't be GOP nominee Donald Trump's main talking point, Rep. Steve King said Monday.
"There are things going on out there that Donald Trump points to that have been part of the political machine for a long time," the Iowa Republican told CNN's Chris Cuomo on the "New Day" program.
"They do, they definitely tilt the playing field in the opposite direction, I think."
King, who was one of Trump's earliest supporters, said there was even a "bit of that pattern" toward the end of the Iowa caucus, when then-Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and now-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton both flagged several concerns in their razor-thin race.
"I do think it is a good idea for the American voters to take a look at the system that we have," King told Cuomo. "There is significant evidence out there that there is voter fraud."
However, he said he does not think it's "that constructive" for Trump to make into a campaign issue through his claims the system is rigged.
"This is something we'd agree on, Democrats and Republicans," King said. "The Constitution is the foundation of our country, but the bedrock that it sits on is legitimate free and fair elections, and the public has to perceive that they are free and fair, and I do think there is concern here that there are voices out there to delegitimize this election."
Cuomo argued with King, putting on numbers showing that over the years, there was only a handful of cases of election fraud, but Trump is "saying the election is going to be stolen from him."
King replied that he didn't want to say anything that "delegitimizes" elections, as he does not want voters to lose faith.
"Instead, we should look at this and try to clean this up to a degree," said King, complaining that there is "plenty of evidence" to show the mainstream media is tilted in favor of Clinton.
"We have evidence out there that illegals have been voting by the hundreds, if not the thousands," said King, noting that it only took 537 votes in Florida to create issues in the 2000 race between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
"When I do see that there are allegations that Clinton campaign and the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton herself are negotiating and the same phone call of quid pro quo with the FBI to declassify emails that were already out on her server, those things do concern me and I don't know how we get justice in this country if we end up with another [Loretta] Lynch as the attorney general."