Trump fears election could be ‘rigged’

Republican nominee Donald Trump on Monday raised the prospect of the presidential election being “rigged” against him. 

“I’m afraid the election is going to be rigged, I’m going to be honest,” Trump told a crowd at an event in Columbus, Ohio. 

“I think my side was rigged. If I didn’t win by massive landslides — think about what we won in New York, Indiana, California, 78 percent; that’s with other people in the race.”

Trump made similar complaints about a “rigged” process during the Republican primaries.

Over the weekend, the businessman criticized the schedule for the presidential debates. He has complained that two of the three debates are being held at the same time as NFL games and in a tweet suggested the schedule was being set by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her allies to distract attention from them.

As usual, Hillary & the Dems are trying to rig the debates so 2 are up against major NFL games. Same as last time w/ Bernie. Unacceptable!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2016

The schedule for the debates was set last year by the Commission on Presidential Debates. That group, which is nonpartisan, said in a statement Sunday that the debate schedule will ‘”serve the American public well.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday backed Trump’s criticism of the schedule. 

“We’re not going to be having debates on Saturday and Sunday night,” he said.