'The potential for chaos is palpable': CNN reporter warns of Trump encouraging supporters to watch polls

President Donald Trump on Tuesday night asked his fans at a North Carolina rally to work as poll watchers to prevent Democrats from supposedly "stealing" the 2020 presidential election.

"Be poll watchers when you go there," Trump told his supporters. "Watch all the thieving and stealing and robbing they do."

CNN White House correspondent John Harwood on Wednesday warned that the president's encouragement could spell trouble for polling sites on election day -- especially if some of his fans decide to show up armed with guns.

"You could imagine, for example, that in the same way that vigilantes have entered scenes of protest in Oregon, in Wisconsin, where two people ended up getting killed and one of the supporters... has been charged with homicide, you can see people trying to intervene at election polling sites," he said. "He's suggested, of course, that people show up having cast an absentee ballot and try to verify that their ballot was cast or vote again."

The bottom line, said Harwood, is that "the potential for chaos is palpable."

Watch the video below.