Donald Trump has started early with accusations of cheating in today’s US Presidential election, claiming police were responding to an incident in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.
But officials in Philadelphia said they had no idea what the Republican candidate was referring to.
Writing on his Truth social media network, Trump declared there had been ‘[a] lot of talk about massive CHEATING’ in the city, adding: ‘Law Enforcement coming!!!’
Polls have indicated Pennsylvania is one of the most important swing states in the election, with voters appearing to be almost evenly split between Kamala Harris and Trump.
Both candidates have spent a substantial amount of time in the state in recent weeks as they battle to win its 19 electoral college votes.
The former president’s accusations were posted at around 4.40pm, more than three hours before polls closed in Philadelphia.
In a joint press conference, city commissioners Seth Bluestein and Omar Sabir said there had been no reports of cheating.
Mr Sabir said: ‘To be clear, Philadelphia elections are safe, simple and secure as they have always been.
‘There is no cheating, there’s no smoke to it. People say things but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true, we learned this in 2020.’
In a post on X, district attorney Larry Krasner added: ‘If Donald J. Trump has any facts to support his wild allegations, we want them now. Right now.
‘We are not holding our breath.’
The post indicated that Trump is planning to deploy a similar playbook to the one he used in 2020, sowing doubt about the validity of the vote in order.
After that election, his team filed lawsuits alleging voter fraud in several states but no evidence of widespread wrongdoing was uncovered.
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