President Donald Trump doubled down on his calls for federal control of U.S. elections during a wide-ranging NBC interview on Wednesday, but he said he meant the government should look at “some areas” where it should intervene.

In a sit-down in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump was pressed to explain comments he made earlier this week on a podcast pushing Republicans to “take over” election administration in parts of the country — a proposal that has drawn bipartisan alarm and legal scrutiny.

Trump denied using the word “nationalize” in describing his earlier remarks and instead suggested that there are areas in the country that require federal intervention. He cited some major cities as examples where, he claimed without evidence, elections are rigged. 

“When, and I didn’t say national – I said there are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt. They have very corrupt elections,” Trump told NBC anchor Tom Llamas. “Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at Philadelphia. Take a look at Atlanta. There are some areas that are unbelievably corrupt. I could give you plenty of more too. I say that we cannot have corrupt elections.”

Joe Biden won all of those cities in the 2020 election.

But Trump did in fact suggest Monday the GOP should nationalize elections on a podcast with Dan Bongino, who was Trump’s deputy director of the FBI until last month.

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Ebony Davis

Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW.

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