Trump's 'dangerous' election lies may be about to blow up in Pennsylvania Republicans' faces: NYT's Haberman

Former President Donald Trump is encouraging Pennsylvania Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz to declare victory even before all mail-in ballots are counted -- and New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman thinks this could hurt the GOP's shot at winning the seat this fall.

Appearing on CNN, Haberman said that if Oz goes on to lose the primary to rival David McCormick, Trump could wage a scorched-Earth campaign to convince his followers that Oz only lost due to voter fraud.

"What he is doing is muddying the waters and there are huger implications here because Republicans are trying to retake the senate," Haberman explained. "It is going to be much harder if Donald Trump is casting doubt on Dave McCormick the way he's clearly prepared to do."

Host John Berman then drew parallels to what Trump did in Georgia in early 2021, as Republicans believe his constant complaints about voter fraud suppressed turnout and cost the GOP two Senate seats they could have won.

RELATED: Extended Pennsylvania recount could help Democrats win in November: analysis

Haberman also said that, even though Trump's antics could potentially hurt the Pennsylvania GOP, they are also bad for the health of American democracy.

"I'm not at all surprised to see how this is playing out but, again, this is really dangerous what Donald Trump is saying and it should not be minimized," she said. "This isn't just him complaining that he lost an election, all of the things that got said after November 3rd, 2020... now he's willing to say this about other people's elections and we are heading down a different path."

Watch the video below or at this link.

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