Rubio Battles Welker on Accepting 2024 Elections: ‘I’ll Bet You Never Asked a Democrat that Question’

WELKER: “But let me look forward. Will you accept the election results of 2024, no matter what happens, senator?”
Rubio: “No matter what happens? No. If it’s an unfair election, I think it’s going to be contested by either side.”
WELKER: “No matter who wins. Senator, no matter who wins?”
Rubio: “Well, I think you’re asking the wrong person. The Democrats are the ones that have opposed every Republican victory since 2000, every single one. Hillary Clinton — “
WELKER: “No Democrat has refused to concede. Hillary Clinton conceded. Senator, will you accept the election results?”
Rubio: “Hillary Clinton said the election was stolen from her and that Trump was illegitimate.”
WELKER: “But she conceded.”
Rubio: “Kamala Harris agreed.”
WELKER: “Senator, she — “
Rubio: “We have Democrats now — “
WELKER: “ — conceded the election. Senator, she conceded the election — “
Rubio: “But she said that Joe Biden — “
WELKER: “ — and attended the inauguration.”
Rubio: “No. She said that Trump was illegitimate. She said that the election had been stolen. Kamala Harris agreed. By the way, there are Democrats serving in Congress today who, in 2004, voted not to certify the Ohio electors because they said those machines had been tampered with. And you have Democrats now saying they won’t certify 2024 because Trump is an insurrectionist and ineligible to hold office. So you need to ask them. I think you have to — have you ever asked the Democrats this question on the show?”
WELKER: “Senator — “
Rubio: “I bet you you’ve never asked a Democrat that question.”
WELKER: “Senator, you voted to certify the 2020 election, and here is what you said on that day that you voted to certify the 2020 election.”

[Clip starts]
Rubio: “Democracy is held together by people’s confidence in the election and their willingness to abide by its results.”
[Clip ends]

WELKER: “So, by your own definition, are Donald Trump’s claims undermining Americans’ confidence in democracy? Given that he has not conceded the last election, and he just said in recent days, twice, that he won Minnesota, senator.”
Rubio: “I think what undermines people’s confidence in the election is when you have places like Wisconsin with over 500 illegal drop box locations, when you have places like Georgia where liberal groups were paying people $10 per vote.”
WELKER: “Senator — “
Rubio: “No, but, listen, what undermines elections is when NBC News and every major news outlet in America in 2020 censored the Biden laptop story, which turned out to be true, not Russian misinformation, unprecedented. You couldn’t even talk about it on social media, they would de-platform you. People look at all this. They look at what happened in Arizona, 200,000 ballots that the signatures didn’t match. People lose confidence — “
WELKER: “Senator, hold on. Senator — “
Rubio: “ — and it opens the door to this. It does.”
WELKER: “ — I have to jump in here. Senator. You voted to certify the election and — “
Rubio: “Because at that stage of the process, you have no options.”
WELKER: “Senator, you voted to certify the election. Nothing has been censored on this program. Hillary Clinton — “
Rubio: “Did you guys cover the laptop for Joe Biden in 2020?”
WELKER: “Absolutely we did. Absolutely covered the laptop. And Hillary Clinton did concede.”
Rubio: “It was bad. You couldn’t even talk about it on social media.”
WELKER: “But bottom line — Chris Krebs, the top election official —
Rubio: “You couldn’t talk about it on social media. They de-platformed. You couldn’t even talk about it because you would be called — they said it was Russian disinformation. Voters, in many cases, didn’t even hear about it because it was blacked out by the media.”
WELKER: “We did cover the election. And just a note that Chris Krebs — “
Rubio: “You covered the election, yeah.”
WELKER: “ — who is a top Trump election official, called it the safest and most secure election in recent history.”
Rubio: “This is not about safe or — “
WELKER: “Senator, we are out of time — “
Rubio: “Of course we are. But I’m telling you that if it’s unfair, we are going to do the same thing Democrats do. We’re going to use lawyers to go to court and point out the fact that states are not following their own election laws.”
WELKER: “Okay, but the Democrats — “
Rubio: “Hopefully we’ll have a fair election and it will be unquestionable — “
WELKER: “All those cases — senator, all those cases were brought to court cases and lost, and there was no proof that there was any widespread fraud, as you know. But I appreciate — “
Rubio: “I never used the word ‘widespread fraud.’”
WELKER: “All right. I’m sorry — Senator Rubio, thank you very much. I appreciate your time this morning. When we come back, Democratic Governor Wes Moore of Maryland joins me next.”