Donald Trump's 'massive cheating' claim slammed by Philadelphia voting officials

Republican candidate Donald Trump has repeatedly made claims of election fraud since he first ran for the US presidency in 2016 and he has refused to concede that he lost the 2020 race for the White House

Voting officials in Philadelphia have blasted Donald Trump's claims there was "massive cheating" in the city, claiming there was "no truth" to the statement.

The former president made the sensational claim questioning the integrity of the vote in the Pennsylvania city, which in turn prompted officials to push back hard against his accusations of cheating. In a post shared on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said: "A lot of talk about massive cheating in Philadelphia. Law enforcement coming."

Despite claiming there was "massive cheating," Trump did not provide any evidence to support his claim. Philadelphia's District Attorney pushed back hard against Trump's claim in a post shared to X/Twitter.

He said: "My response to Trump's unfounded allegation of cheating in Philly general election: The only talk about massive cheating has come from one of the candidates, Donald J. Trump. There is no factual basis whatsoever within law enforcement to support this wild allegation.

"We have invited complains and allegations of improprieties all day. If Donald J. Trump has any facts to support his wild allegations, we want them now. Right now. We are not holding our breath."

Republican City Commissioner in Philadelphia Seth Bluestein also pushed back against the former president's comments. Posting to X/Twitter he said: "There is absolutely no truth to this allegation. It is yet another example of disinformation. Voting in Philadelphia has been safe and secure."

The Philadelphia Police Department told CNN it was not aware of any issues with voting. Pennsylvania is a key swing state that could likely secure the presidency for either the Republicans or Democrats.

Trump has repeatedly made claims of election fraud throughout the 2024 campaign and previously accused the Democrats of rigging elections in 2016 and 2020. The former president has still not conceded the 2020 election and repeated baseless claims that the election was stolen.

What followed in the months after the election was weeks of conspiracy theories and wild election fraud claims. The certification of the votes was slated to take place in Congress on January 6, 2021.

Instead, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building that led to the death of one person inside the building. Three more would later die due to injuries and two more committing suicide.

The riot at the Capitol was triggered after Trump asked Georgia's Attorney General to find more than 11,000 votes to overturn the election result in the state. Trump was indicted over the phone - although the former president pleaded not guilty.

Polls have been neck-and-neck throughout this election cycle after Kamala Harris became the Democrat party's nominee.