Washington: US President Donald Trump, during his discussion with congressional leaders, claimed that "illegals" voting deprived him of a victory in the popular vote, a media report said on Tuesday.
Trump's agenda for discussion on Monday night revolved around relitigating the campaign, NBC news reported. The claim of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election was widely debunked.
Sources told NBC News that Trump spent about the first 10 minutes of his bipartisan meeting with congressional leaders at the White House talking about the campaign and about how 3 to 5 million "illegals" voted in the election, causing him to lose the popular vote.
The meeting with congressional leaders was described as more of a social occasion than a formal session.
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said it was "light-hearted", joking that he was most entertained by seeing Trump and Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer from New York, discuss which New York politicians were their common friends. After the reception, Trump met privately with House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Ryan's office described the meeting as substantive and wide-ranging, including discussions of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and other agenda items for the new administration.
"The Speaker and President Trump are eager to continue moving forward on their shared agenda to jumpstart the economy and get the country back on track," an office spokesman said in a statement.
