A top Donald Trump adviser said Tuesday whoever loses the election needs to give a concession speech that will “help bring America back together.”
“I think whoever loses, I think the concession speech is extremely important. You know right now as a country we’re very fractured,” Michael Cohen, special counsel at the Trump Organization and an adviser to the Republican nominee, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on “The Situation Room.” “I truly hope that whoever loses, that the concession speech is something that will help to bring America back together as a people.”
His comments come after Republican nominee Donald Trump has repeatedly called the 2016 election “rigged” at campaign rallies and on Twitter.
And on Monday, his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN that Trump would accept the outcome of the election only if there is no “overwhelming evidence” of fraud.
Cohen also reiterated Trump’s statements about the election being “rigged.”
“When Mr. Trump talks about it being a rigged system, there’s really two parts to it,” Cohen said. “The first is the media, and the second is the voter fraud. That’s what he’s referring to.”
Cohen also slammed House Speaker Paul Ryan for his move to stop defending the Republican nominee, saying that the campaign needs “the Republicans to unite” around Trump.
“Shame on Paul Ryan and any Republican that doesn’t want to support their nominee,” Cohen said. “You may not agree with Mr. Trump on everything that he says … (but) the truth is we need the Republicans to all unite around Mr. Trump. Again, there’s 21 days. It’s about time they stop with all this nonsense.”