--- description: Obama denied that the November election would be in anyway rigged to prevent Donald Trump from winning the presidency title: Obama Says Trump's Claim That Election Will Be Rigged Is 'Ridiculous' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt427263017bd4e8aa/6988a13bfb4eac322e88ea16/obama2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # President Obama Says Donald Trump's Claim That Election Will Be Rigged Is 'Ridiculous' by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) and [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) Aug 4, 2016 9:53 PM CUT  President Obama answers a question during a news conference on Aug. 4, 2016, at the Pentagon in Washington. President Obama answers a question during a news conference on Aug. 4, 2016, at the Pentagon in Washington.Jacquelyn Martin—AP by [Daniel White](/author/daniel-white/) and [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) Aug 4, 2016 9:53 PM CUT President Obama rebuffed Donald Trump’s suggestion that the general election in November would somehow be rigged, joking that he’d never heard of anyone complaining about cheating before the game was even over. “Of course the election will not be rigged. What does that mean?” Obama said Thursday. Speaking from the Pentagon, Obama said the Republican nominee’s suggestion that there is a conspiracy to keep him from winning the election is “ridiculous.” “This will be an election like any other election,” Obama said. Earlier this week, [Trump suggested](http://time.com/4433984/donald-trump-general-election-rigged/ "undefined") that the upcoming general election would be rigged. Obama did say, however, that the federal government would be watching out for practices that prevent people from voting because of accessibility or polling place issues. “I think all of us in some points in our lives…sometimes folks if they lose they start complaining about being cheated. …Never heard of someone complaining about being cheated before the game is finished,” the president said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4440000/barack-obama-donald-trump-rigged-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4440000/barack-obama-donald-trump-rigged-election/"},"headline":"President Obama Says Donald Trump's Claim That Election Will Be Rigged Is 'Ridiculous'","datePublished":"2016-08-04T21:53:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T12:12:30.486Z","description":"\"Of course the election will not be rigged. What does that mean?\"","url":"https://time.com/4440000/barack-obama-donald-trump-rigged-election/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Barack Obama","White House","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt427263017bd4e8aa/6988a13bfb4eac322e88ea16/obama2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt427263017bd4e8aa/6988a13bfb4eac322e88ea16/obama2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barack Obama","caption":"Barack Obama","creditText":"Jacquelyn Martin—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4440000/barack-obama-donald-trump-rigged-election/","name":"President Obama Says Donald Trump's Claim That Election Will Be Rigged Is 'Ridiculous'"}}]}] ```