President Donald Trump on Wednesday wouldn't commit to a peaceful transfer of power if a tally of ballots shows Democrat Joe Biden wins the November election.
"We're going to have to see what happens," Trump said in response to a reporter's question at a White House news conference on Wednesday evening. "You know that I've been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster."
Trump has been criticizing the legitimacy of mail-in voting, which is being offered in a number of states as officials seek to limit the spread of the coronavirus at packed polling places.
The president has repeatedly claimed that mail-in voting is more susceptible to fraud than in-person voting on Election Day. Lawyers representing Trump's campaign are challenging mail-in voting rules in several states.
"Get rid of the ballots and you'll have a transfer -- a very peaceful, there won't be a transfer, frankly," Trump said on Wednesday. "There'll be a continuation. The ballots are out of control, you know it. You know who knows that better than anybody else? The Democrats know that better than anybody else."
"What country are we in?" Biden said when asked about Trump's remarks as he returned to Delaware from campaigning in Charlotte, N.C. "I'm being facetious. What country are we in? Look, he says the most irrational things. I don't know what to say about that."
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump predicted that deciding the winner will ultimately go to the Supreme Court.
He said that is why it is so urgent that his nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg be seated before the election.
"I think this will end up in the Supreme Court. And I think it's very important that we have nine justices," Trump said. "It's better if you go before the election, because I think this, this scam that the Democrats are pulling, it's a scam, the scam will be before the United States Supreme Court. And I think having a 4/4 situation is not a good situation."
Trump then said an election case challenging the mail-in ballots that goes before the Supreme Court should get a vote of "eight-nothing or nine-nothing."
"But just in case it would be more political than it should be, I think it's very important to have a ninth justice."