President Donald Trump cut off reporters and walked away after they repeatedly demanded evidence for his claim of widespread mail-in voting fraud in California.
Trump spoke to reporters outside the White House on Monday as he prepared to board Marine One for campaign events.
The midterm elections are less than a month away, on Nov. 3.
"Why are you telling your supporters to vote by mail if you think it's fraud?" a reporter asked.
"They'll vote by mail or vote in person," Trump replied. "I'd rather have them vote in person, but they can vote by mail if they want, because we seem to have no choice, because a lot of people wanna vote by mail."
"But a lot of very good people also wanna vote in person. You can do either," he continued.
"What we're concerned about is there seems to be a lot of … Not seems to be. There is a lot of cheating in vote by mail," the president said.
"Where, Mr. President? Where?" the reporter pressed.
"A lot of cheating all over," Trump answered.
"Where's the evidence?" a second reporter asked.
"What evidence is that?" the first reporter added.
"I'll tell you what. Start off by taking a look at California!" Trump said.
Trump made a similar charge after California's June primary, writing on Truth Social that "There's BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California," The National News Desk reported.
When The New York Times asked for evidence, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said only that Trump was "committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of our elections."
"There's no evidence in California!" the first reporter shot back outside the White House on Monday.
"No evidence!" Trump repeated.
"No!" the reporter answered.
"With millions and millions of ballots?" Trump asked.
"You are fake news!" he said, then stormed away, cutting off further questions without offering any evidence.
