Obama Labels Trump's Assertion of Rigged Election 'Ridiculous'

President Barack Obama dismissed as “ridiculous” Republican Donald Trump’s statement that he fears the Nov. 8 election will be rigged against him.

“Of course the election will not be rigged. What does that mean?” Obama said at a news conference Thursday when asked about the Republican presidential nominee’s remarks. “I don’t think anybody would take that seriously.”

As recent national polls are showing him falling further behind Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump, who’s repeated various conspiracy theories throughout the campaign, on Monday launched an attack on the legitimacy of a U.S. electoral system. “I’m afraid the election’s gonna be rigged, I have to be honest," he told a crowd in Columbus, Ohio.

Obama compared Trump’s assertion to a sandbox or schoolyard squabble. “Sometimes folks when they lose complain about getting cheated,” he said. “But I’ve never heard someone complain" before game is over.

He pointed out that the election system is run by states, many of which are governed by Republicans. The federal government does have a role in monitoring the vote to assure the integrity of the process, he said.

"If Mr. Trump is up 10 or 15 points on Election Day and ends up losing, maybe he can raise some questions. That doesn’t seem to be the case at the moment," Obama said.

The average of recent polls compiled by RealClear Politics shows Clinton with a 5.8 percentage point lead nationwide. Additionally, she has opened up leads in crucial swing states, including Florida and Pennsylvania, since the Democratic and Republican conventions ended.

Separately, Obama said his administration would follow “both the tradition and the law” in providing Trump and Clinton with classified intelligence briefings, despite calling the Republican nominee “unfit” for the presidency earlier this week.

"They have been told these are classified briefings,” he said. “If they want to be president, they’ve got to start acting like president. That means being able to receive these briefings and not spread them around.”