Joseph Gerth

@Joe_Gerth

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said Monday that he doesn’t believe American elections are “rigged” as GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has claimed in recent weeks but he also believes that concerns of rebellion that some Trump supporters have called for are “overstated.”

“I don’t have any evidence that our elections … are rigged. We in Kentucky had fraud before, you know, Prichard, back in the 50s was involved in fraud. LBJ was involved in fraud in Texas back in the 50s also,” Paul said in an interview after he spoke to a Republican student group at St. Xavier High School in Louisville.

“But I think the elections are, you know, accurately recorded,” Paul said.

As Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has pulled further ahead in the polls, Trump has increased his rhetoric suggesting at events and on social media that the 2016 election has been rigged and his shot at the presidency is being stolen from him.

“Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on? So naive!” he posted on Twitter on Monday.

“The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary – but also at many polling places – SAD,” he tweeted on Sunday.

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Trump’s repeated claims that the system is “rigged” is starting to concern even Republicans who fear that such statements could de-legitimize the presidency and the nation’s government as a whole.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, and former Sen. Kit Bond, of Missouri, are among the Republicans telling Trump to tone down his rhetoric.

“Somebody claiming in the election, ‘I was defrauded,’ that isn’t going to cut it,” Bond, who had endorsed Republicans Jeb Bush and then Marco Rubio, said, according to Politico. “They’re going to have to say how, where, why, when.”

The Boston Globe reported on Saturday from a campaign event in Cincinnati threats of armed insurrection if Trump is denied the presidency. One of those the newspaper quoted was Dan Bowman, a 50-year-old contractor, who said he would take up arms if Hillary Clinton prevails.

“If she’s in office, I hope we can start a coup. She should be in prison or shot. That’s how I feel about it,” Bowman told the Globe. “We’re going to have a revolution and take them out of office if that’s what it takes. There’s going to be a lot of bloodshed. But that’s what it’s going to take. . . . I would do whatever I can for my country.”

Paul, as he was being rushed away by his staff, said he wasn’t concerned about such threats.

“I think some of that is overstated,” he said.

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