Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, the two highest ranking congressional Democrats, said Donald Trump's claims have crossed the line. | Getty Pelosi and Reid call on Ryan and McConnell to repudiate Trump rigging claims

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid accused Republican congressional leaders of being complicit with Donald Trump's claims that the election is "rigged," saying top GOP lawmakers need to do more to repudiate their presidential nominee.

Trump has lashed out at the electoral process as his polls numbers have collapsed, accusing the media, as well as fellow Republicans, of conspiring to undermine his campaign. “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!” Trump tweeted on Monday.


Pelosi and Reid, the two highest-ranking congressional Democrats, said Trump's claims have crossed the line, and they called out Republicans by name for not doing enough to rebut them. “When a major party's nominee riles up his supporters and repeats the lie that the election is 'rigged,' the failure of Speaker Ryan and Senator McConnell to affirm the fairness of our democratic process and condemn Donald Trump’s comments is complicity," the Democrats said in a joint statement.

They suggested that a "bipartisan statement of faith in the integrity of our elections will help calm the waters that Donald Trump appears determined to agitate."

So far, McConnell has not addressed Trump's claims of election rigging. A spokesman for Ryan, AshLee Strong, issued a statement over the weekend that said "our democracy relies on confidence in election results, and the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity," although the speaker has not personally addressed the claims.

"This issue is bigger than any of us and bigger than this election," Pelosi and Reid concluded. "This is about each of us doing our part to ensure the continued functioning of our democracy. At some point, the good of the country must outweigh the instinct for political self-preservation."