Civil rights pioneer visits TSU, says election not rigged

“I don’t understand how any person in his or her right mind can say that the election is rigged -- we are following tradition and process that we’ve followed for many, many years," said Georgia Congressman John Lewis. He is the only speaker still alive from the historic 1965 March on Washington, the same march that Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his I Have a Dream speech. Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee was by his side on Tuesday, sharing her own thoughts on GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s suggestion.

“The election is not rigged," said U.S. Rep. Jackson Lee. "We have fought hard to remove the barriers to voting and all I can say to all of our people all over the country is get out and vote.”

“Tremendous voter fraud," added Jackson Lee. "How Republican leadership doesn't see that is beyond me."

The most important Republican in Washington, D.C., House Speaker Paul Ryan, rejected Trump’s claim of a rigged election through his spokesperson over the weekend.  

“Our democracy relies on confidence in election results and the Speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity,” said Ryan's spokesperson.

But not everyone along political party lines agrees with Speaker Ryan. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, an advisor to Trump, has said, “I’d have to be a moron,” to say the election in cities like Philadelphia and Chicago “will be fair.”

But U.S. Rep. Lewis, who has served in Congress since 1987, maintained that Trump’s comments were irresponsible and even unpatriotic.

“As an elected official, I would never suggest anything like that," explained Lewis. "I think it’s something from another planet. It’s not in keeping with the American dream."

Even President Barack Obama weighed in during a joint news conference on Tuesday with Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Renzi from The White House Rose Garden.

“There is no serious person out there who would even suggest that you could rig America’s elections,” said President Obama.