White House downplays Trump’s calls for Republicans to ‘nationalize’ voting

White House officials on Tuesday sought to downplay comments President Donald Trump made urging Republicans to “nationalize” elections.

Trump, in a podcast interview with former deputy FBI director Dan Bongino, claimed that “Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over’” elections “in at least 15 places,” despite states being given large authority over administering elections in the Constitution.

“The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,” the president told Bongino. “We have states that are so crooked, and they’re counting votes.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt faced a number of questions regarding the president’s comments during a Tuesday afternoon gaggle with reporters. Leavitt repeatedly claimed that Trump was referring to the SAVE Act, a bill on Capitol Hill that would require proof of citizenship to register