WASHINGTON — Donald Trump lashed out Monday at Republicans who have tried to tone down his rhetoric about election fraud, calling his own party's leaders "so naive" and claiming without evidence that large-scale voter fraud is real.
Trump's claims were part a Monday morning blast of tweets that took on his party, the women who've accused him of sexual misconduct, the media and Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, declared Sunday the ticket will "absolutely accept the results of the election." But Trump seemed to brush back against his vice presidential pick.
"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 tweeted Monday.
There is no evidence to back up Trump's claim of widespread voter fraud. A study by a Loyola Law School professor found that out of 1 billion votes cast in all American elections between 2000 and 2014, there were only 31 known cases of impersonation fraud.
Trump is spending much of Monday out of sight before campaigning in Green Bay, Wis., in the evening. Clinton is spending the day Monday with advisers near her home in New York, preparing for the final debate Wednesday night.
As she prepares, her campaign was hit with a new revelation.
Newly released FBI documents show a senior State Department staff member sought to change the classification level of an email that was on Clinton's private server. The official, State Department Undersecretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy, requested the change for an email related to the 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.
Kennedy said that would allow him to ensure the document was "never to be seen again." The FBI did not change the classification level.
Clinton's campaign also continues to answer for hacked emails being released by the thousands by WikiLeaks. The most recent batch showed Clinton generally avoided direct criticism of Wall Street as she examined the causes and responses to the financial meltdown during a series of paid speeches to Goldman Sachs.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.