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Donald Trump says US presidential election could be rigged

Donald Trump has spoken of his fears that the election in November will be "rigged"
Donald Trump has spoken of his fears that the election in November will be "rigged" Donald Trump has spoken of his fears that the election in November will be "rigged"

Donald Trump has said he fears the presidential election "is going to be rigged" - an unprecedented assertion by a modern White House candidate.

The Republican nominee's extraordinary claim - one he did not back up with any immediate evidence - would seem to threaten the tradition of peacefully contested elections and challenge the very essence of a fair democratic process.

"I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest," the Republican nominee told a town hall crowd in Columbus, Ohio.

He added that he has been hearing "more and more" that the election may not be contested fairly, though he did not elaborate further.

Mr Trump made the claim after first suggesting that the Democrats had fixed their primary system so Hillary Clinton could defeat Bernie Sanders.

The billionaire tycoon has previously backed up that thought by pointing to hacked emails from the national party that appeared to indicate a preference for Mrs Clinton.

Still, the former secretary of state received 3.7 million more votes than Mr Sanders nationwide and had established a clear lead in delegates by March 1.

The celebrity businessman also claimed that the Republican nomination would have been stolen from him had he not won by significant margins.

He repeated the charge on Monday night on Fox News, saying: "November 8th, we'd better be careful, because that election is going to be rigged. And I hope the Republicans are watching closely or it's going to be taken away from us."

The statement could be an effort by Mr Trump to lay the groundwork of an excuse if he goes on to lose the election.

But if he were to be defeated in November and then publicly declare that the election results were bogus, his claim could yield unpredictable reactions from his supporters and fellow Republicans.

Mr Trump has not been shy about asserting that the electoral process has been "rigged".

It became a frequent catchphrase of during his primary campaign this spring, when forces allied with Republican rival Ted Cruz managed to pack state delegations with supporters of the Texas senator.

Mr Trump also asserted that the Republican Party had changed the delegate allocation in the Florida primary to favour a native candidate, like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio, at his expense.

In recent weeks, in an effort to woo angry Sanders supporters to his campaign, Mr Trump has made the claim that the Democrats' process was also rigged.

On Monday night, Mr Trump said Mr Sanders "made a deal with the devil" and said of Mrs Clinton: "She's the devil."

The event in Ohio was Mr Trump's first campaign appearance since the start of his row with the parents of a killed Army veteran, but he did not address the controversy.

He spoke for nearly an hour in Columbus, but did not mention his criticism of Khizr and Ghazala Khan, Muslims whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004.

The Khans spoke out against Mr Trump and questioned his familiarity with the Constitution last week at the Democratic National Convention.

Mr Trump struck back by questioning whether Mrs Khan had been allowed to speak. She said she is still too grief-stricken by her son's death.

The candidate criticised the family in an interview on Sunday and again in two tweets on Monday morning.