Samantha Bee: How the Republican 'lie' of massive voter fraud started

President-elect Donald Trump claims that he would have "won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." So Samantha Bee decided to track the roots of his idea about voter fraud.

"For the record, massive voter fraud is a lie," TBS's "Full Frontal" host said. "But this lie didn't spring Athena-like from Donald's collapsing pumpkin of a head. He's a marketer. His big lies are like his buildings. He doesn't build them. He just slaps his brand on them and tricks the press into promoting them for free."

Several media outlets had already fact-checked Trump's claim that millions of illegal votes were cast during the election and found that it is false. But he's certainly not the first to make the allegation. Bee said that the voter fraud "lie" started decades ago in Ronald Reagan's election in 1980 when Paul Weyrich, the founder of conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, revealed that Republicans won elections when less people voted.

"Look, I get it: That's just politics," Bee said. "Republicans win if they keep people from voting, especially Democrat people."

The show then put up a photo of several old, white men with one black woman. And then Bee asked sarcastically, "But how do you look at a group of voters and pick out the Democrat?"

According to Bee, numerous voter restriction laws were then created across the country, which benefited Republican candidates and targeted minority voters who historically leaned more Democratic. But Republicans couldn't say that's who they were targeting with the voter restriction laws, so they began to create a hysteria around the idea of massive voter fraud, Bee says.

"Remember, all the party wanted was an excuse to pass voter restrictions," Bee said. "But once you put a lie out there, it grows and takes on a life of its own."

Watch Bee state her case about the GOP "lie" of voter fraud below: