Trump Won't Pledge to Accept Election Results

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says he won't necessarily accept the results of the election. At the presidential debate Wednesday night, Trump would not back off his description of the election as rigged.

Asked by moderator Chris Wallace whether he would continue the peaceful transition of power, Trump said: "I will keep you in suspense." Trump has claimed that the media are in league with Clinton to hand her the election.

He also accused Clinton of being behind the women accusing him of sexual harassment and assault.

Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager, told CNN after the debate that Trump was definitely going to accept the results of the election because "he is going to win."

CNN's Anderson Cooper suggested that after that answer, it was appropriate that it came in the post-debate "spin room."

Clinton got in some good shots at Trump's "rigged" argument, saying that Trump had said primary races that he lost were rigged, and that even when Apprentice did not win an Emmy one time, he had tweeted that that was rigged.

Trump chimed in that the show should have won that Emmy, too, one of the only light moments in an otherwise contentious and even, at times, ugly debate.

Clinton invoked Celebrity Apprentice in another answer about their respective qualifications, saying while she was helping catch Osama Bin Laden, Trump was hosting the reality show.

Van Jones commenting on CNN said: "You can't polish this turd," he said of Trump's refusal to commit to accepting the results. "This is a sad night for America."

Trump supporters pointed to Al Gore's refusal to concede the razor-thin 2000 election to explain Trump's comment.

An analyst on Fox News pointed out that even after evidence of voter fraud was presented to Richard Nixon after the 1960 election, he refused to contest the election saying that was what was best for the country, adding that she wished Trump had indicated something similar.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.