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President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday that he will ask officials to begin an investigation into voter fraud, a day after the White House continued to push the patently false claim that millions of illegal ballots cost Trump the popular vote.

Officials have said there is no evidence to suggest a widespread scheme involving millions of votes cast by undocumented immigrants cost Trump the popular vote to his rival Hillary Clinton, as he has repeatedly claimed.

But writing on Twitter on Wednesday, Trump said that he would ask for “a major investigation into voter fraud, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even, [sic] those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time.”

“Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!” he tweeted.

Earlier this week, the president again falsely claimed during a meeting with congressional leaders that votes from millions of unauthorized immigrants had cost him the popular vote.

But as recently as Tuesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters that the administration had no plans to investigate the supposed conspiracy because Trump was “comfortable” with his victory.

“He's very comfortable with the depth and breadth of the support he got from the American people,” Spicer said Tuesday.

“If 3-5 million people voted illegally that is a scandal of astronomical proportions,” a reporter asked. “Doesn't he want to restore Americans' faith in their ballot system? Wouldn't he want an investigation into this?”

“We'll see where we go,” Spicer replied, “but right now the focus that the president has is putting Americans back to work. [His remarks to congressional leaders were] a comment that he made on a long standing belief.”

Trump's false allegations of widespread voter fraud date back months.

In November he tweeted that in addition to “winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally”.

A number of Democrats said Tuesday they could support an investigation into voter fraud – purely to debunk the Trump administration's claims.

“They’re making these allegations, but we’re going to the attorney generals and saying, is there voter fraud, and what proof is there?” Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told BuzzFeed News.

Democrats Say They Could Get Behind A Voter Fraud Investigation — To Prove Trump Wrong

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