WASHINGTON -- As Donald Trump repeated claims of election-rigging against him, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the Republican should "stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes."
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Speaking at a Rose Garden news conference with Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, Obama said he would pull his punches when it came to politics. "I'm going to be a little more subdued in my discussions of the Republican nominee in this context than I might be on the campaign trail," Obama said.
But when he was asked about Trump's rhetoric, he hardly held back.
"There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even rig America's elections, in part, because they are so decentralized," Obama said. "And so I'd invite Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes."
[INTERACTIVE: 2016 election coverage]
He added that it was unheard of in modern U.S. politics for any presidential candidate to "discredit the elections" before most votes were even cast, as Trump has done in recent days.
"You start whining before the game is even over?" Obama said. "If whenever things are going badly for you and you lose, you start blaming somebody else -- then you don't have what it takes to be in this job."
Obama dismissed Trump's claims of election-fixing as baseless and impossible to carry out, because balloting is overseen at the state level. In many swing states, such as Florida, a Republican governor oversees the process, Obama said.
Speaking of the tradition of a peaceful transfer of power after presidential elections, Obama said, "That's how democracy survives.
"One of the great things about America's democracy is we have a vigorous, sometimes bitter political contest, and when it's done, historically, regardless of party, the person who loses the election congratulates the winner, reaffirms our democracy and we move forward," Obama said.
Obama also accused Trump of cozying up to Russia's Vladimir Putin to a degree "unprecedented in American politics."
The president's remarks came as Trump and his Republican allies look for ways to regain momentum before Nov. 8.
Trump and his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, face off in their third and final debate tonight in Las Vegas.
Campaigning in Colorado, Trump repeated his assertions about "corrupt" elections but did not respond directly to the president.
"They even want to try and rig the election at the polling booth, where so many cities are corrupt and you see that and voter fraud is all too common," Trump said at a rally in Colorado Springs.
Independent studies and election officials in both parties say they see no evidence that voter fraud -- individuals impersonating others to cast ballots -- is a widespread problem.
Trump also vowed to "drain the swamp" in Washington, and for the first time promised to push for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.
Trump said he would propose a six-year limit for members of the House and a 12-year limit for members of the Senate.
"Decades of failure in Washington and decades of special-interest dealing, must and will come to an end," he said. "We have to break the cycle of corruption."
Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, served 12 years, or six terms, in the House.
In recent days Trump has added to a list of proposed ethics overhauls, including prohibiting executive branch officials and members of Congress and their staffs from lobbying the government for five years after they leave office. He also has proposed expanding the definition of "lobbyist" and banning senior executive branch officials from lobbying on behalf of foreign governments at any time in their lives.
Trump: Putin insulted
As for Russia, Obama accused Trump of showering praise and modeling his policies on Russia's Putin to a degree that is "unprecedented in American politics."
He said he has been "surprised and troubled" by Republican lawmakers who he said are echoing their presidential nominee's positions. Trump has praised Putin as a strong leader and criticized Obama and Clinton for Washington's deteriorating relationship with Moscow.
In an interview Monday, Trump said Russia "can't stand" either Democrat. He promised a closer relationship with Putin, if elected, starting with a possible meeting before Inauguration Day.
"The problem is Putin has no respect for Obama, at all, doesn't like him and doesn't respect him. And Obama doesn't like Putin," Trump said. "They insult him constantly. I mean, no wonder he can't stand Obama and Hillary Clinton."
Obama insisted that Putin was a leader who has violated basic human rights, disregarded the laws of war and trampled long-standing borders of his neighbors.
The president seemed especially mystified by Republicans who called for him to take a tougher stand against the Russian leader and still backed Trump.
"Mr. Trump rarely surprises me these days," Obama said. "I am much more surprised and troubled by the fact that you have Republican officials who historically have been adamantly anti-Russian ... now supporting and, in some cases, echoing his positions. It's quite a reversal. You'll have to ask them how to explain it."
The president and the Italian prime minister spoke briefly about the Iraqi-led offensive to liberate Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, from the Islamic State group. The vast majority of the president's news conference, though, was dominated by the election. Even the Italian prime minister conceded that the Trump-Clinton battle had dwarfed other news in the United States and in Italy.
"I have a feeling and I think that rightly so our American friends are a little bit more interested in Nov. 8," Renzi said. "And so are we, might I add."
Pence sees media bias
Asked Tuesday about Trump's claims of election rigging, Pence dodged and suggested Trump's point actually was about the "overwhelming bias in the national media."
When pressed on Trump's specific predictions of widespread voter fraud, Pence argued that there have been "proven instances of fraud" in recent decades.
There have been only limited instances of voter impersonation, and never enough to alter the outcomes of national elections. The Washington Post found 31 incidents of voter fraud nationwide between 2000 and 2014, most involving more than one ballot.
Pence said he believes "in local participation" and suggested that Trump only wants his supporters to "respectfully participate" at the polls "to ensure the integrity of the election."
Pence spoke after touring the burned-out offices of the Republican Party in Hillsborough, N.C. The GOP office was firebombed over the weekend in what Pence called an "act of political terrorism." Trump pointed at Clinton supporters, but Pence did not assign blame.
"An attack on our political system is an attack on us all," Pence told reporters outside the office. He praised Trump supporters for their "courage" and "resilience" and added, "We will not be intimidated."
Authorities are still investigating the firebombing, which happened some time overnight Saturday into Sunday. No one was injured.
Story corroborated
Clinton held no public events Tuesday while she prepared for the debate. She has faced her own troubles in the past week, including new revelations involving her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state.
New FBI documents released Monday revived questions about whether she received classified information and whether State Department allies sought to protect her from criticism over the email arrangement.
Trump called it an "elaborate and deliberate cover-up" and called for the State Department official, Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy, to be fired.
The Republican is hoping to turn the conversation away from the allegations of sexual misconduct that partly dominated his last debate against Clinton.
In an interview with Fox News aired Tuesday, Melania Trump vouched for her husband and blamed the accusations on political rivals: "They want to damage the presidency of my husband, and it was all planned, it was all organized from the opposition."
People magazine, meanwhile, reported Tuesday that a half-dozen people have come forward to corroborate its writer's account of being sexually assaulted by Donald Trump and its aftermath.
Natasha Stoynoff, a former staff writer at the celebrity magazine, wrote last week that Trump grabbed her, pinned her against a wall and forcibly kissed her in a room at his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida in 2005. She was on assignment to write a profile of the businessman and his then-pregnant wife, who Stoynoff said was upstairs when it happened.
Trump has denied the accusation, saying Stoynoff, 51, fabricated the incident.
Though Stoynoff says she and Trump were alone when the incident happened, the magazine's latest story quotes five friends and former co-workers who say the writer told them about the incident shortly after it happened.
Stoynoff's longtime friend, Marina Grasic, told People she got a call from the reporter the day after the alleged attack. Grasic said Stoynoff detailed everything, from Trump pushing her against a wall to the businessman later showing up at her massage appointment.
"Beyond just the attack, she was horrified by the vulgar circumstances under which she was attacked and propositioned to have an affair," Grasic said. "She was there in a professional capacity, writing an article about their happy marriage, and after the incident Trump acted like nothing happened."
Paul McLaughlin, Stoynoff's former journalism professor, told the magazine she called him in tears looking for advice on the night of the alleged encounter. He cautioned her to remain quiet in fear of how Trump might retaliate to destroy her career and reputation.
"I advised her not to say anything, because I believed Trump would deny it and try to destroy her," McLaughlin told People.
The former People co-workers quoted to bolster Stoynoff's account were editors Liz McNeil, Mary Green and former staff writer Liza Hamm. All said Stoynoff confided in them years ago about the incident.
Information for this article was contributed by Mark Landler of The New York Times; by Kevin Freking and Kathleen Hennessey, Jill Colvin, Michael Biesecker, Eric Tucker and Bill Barrow of The Associated Press; and by Greg Jaffe, David Nakamura and Jose DelReal of The Washington Post.
A Section on 10/19/2016