CNN anchor trades blows with Trump over baseless voter fraud claims

Jonathan Drake/Reuters

President-elect Donald Trump went head to head on Twitter with CNN anchor Jeff Zeleny over Trump's unfounded claims there were "millions" of illegal votes cast in the 2016 election.

Zeleny referred to Trump as a "sore winner" in an on-air report Monday night, after the president-elect failed to provide any evidence of the rampant voter fraud that he asserted.

In response, Trump promoted a series of tweets from his followers attacking Zeleny, including one that called him a "part time wannabe journalist."

Zeleny fired back at Trump, challenging him to provide proof of his voter fraud claims:"@realDonaldTrump Good evening! Have been looking for examples of voter fraud. Please send our way. Full-time journalist here still working," Zeleny wrote on Twitter.

The argument stems from a missive Trump tweeted on Sunday without any evidence to back it up: "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."

Trump's followers leaned in on Zeleny:

Election officials in states where Trump alleged voter fraud occurred have rebuked his assertions, calling them "unsubstantiated."

The president-elect previously stoked claims of voter fraud in the weeks leading up to the presidential election, urging his supporters to be watchful of irregularities at the polls.

Before the election, Trump and his surrogates openly predicted that the election would be "rigged."

Trump's allegations of fraud followed news that Wisconsin officials were preparing a vote recount that was requested by Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

Although Trump won the Electoral College 306-232 to beat Democrat Hillary Clinton, he lost the popular vote by more than 2 million votes.

For its part, Clinton's campaign said it would participate in the recount despite having not found "actionable evidence" of impropriety in the polling.