Kayleigh McEnany Said Recounts Based On No Evidence Are Attempts To Delegitimize President Elect (In 2016)

The double-standard rears its head. Kayleigh McEnany, White House Press Secretary, is currently fighting alongside Donald Trump to convince the public that something underhanded happened in the Presidential election. In 2016, she complained that requests for recounts were just an attempt to delegitimize the duly-chosen President-Elect (Donald Trump).

Andrew Kaczynski, for CNN, reposted a 2016 video on Twitter to remind the public that McEnany’s position in 2016 was far different from the administration’s current view.

Kayleigh McEnany in November 2016: “You have people trying to delegitimize the President-elect of the United States right now. You have people out there that are calling for recounts that are unsubstantiated based on no evidence.”https://t.co/zCEvpxKPxfpic.twitter.com/wJP2WapZMq

— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) November 12, 2020

This was in November, and electors didn’t meet until December 19, according to documents(pdf) in the National Archives. So, among other things, in 2016, McEnany and other Trump team members did believe that the title or President-Elect could be conferred before the electoral college spoke.

NBC reports that Joe Biden isn’t getting access currently to normal transition procedures, because Trump officials still deny that he is the President-Elect. They’re not only waiting for the electoral college, but challenging the votes.

In Kaczinski’s CNN story, he lists other Trump supporters who said that it was wrong to challenge an election outcome — at least, in 2016. These include Rudy Giuliani, who called those upset with the results “a bunch of spoiled crybabies,” and Kellyanne Conway, who said that denying the President-Elect a peaceful transition of power is “confounding and disappointing.”

As can be seen in the CBS video below, President Obama invited Donald Trump, then the President-Elect, to the White House on November 10, 2016 — two days after the election.

Four years ago today, President Obama invited President-elect Trump to the White House one day after Trump’s projected victory.

“My number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our President-elect is successful,” Obama said pic.twitter.com/1lVMYQG0g2

— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 10, 2020

As for McEnany, though she spoke in favor of peaceful transitions, avoiding recounts, and accepting the will of the people in 2016, she’s currently sharing stories that undermine the integrity of the election, suggesting it’s somehow wrong to count legally cast ballots, and otherwise continuing to support Trump as he fights to keep the White House.