Former attorney general Eric Holder said "the reality" of the 2020 presidential election is that Republicans will "cheat."
Holder, who served in Barack Obama's administration, expressed confidence in Democrats' 2020 electoral chances during a Monday interview on The Breakfast Club radio show. Host Charlamagne tha God challenged that view, and Holder responded that Democrats must be prepared for a tough fight against cheating Republicans.
"It's going to be hard because the reality is that Republicans are going to cheat," Holder said. "They're going to try to keep people away from the polls. They're going to move polling places. They're going to do a whole variety of things."
Charlamagne said he doubts President Donald Trump would leave the White House if a Democrat were to win the presidency in 2020, saying Trump would likely be sent to prison. Holder said he had dismissed that scenario when he first heard it suggested, but now he finds it plausible.
"I thought to myself, 'that's ridiculous.' But as I've thought about it, this guy with all the norms he breaks through—I think he loses, and then it will be interesting between, say, November and January when he would have to start packing," Holder said.
Holder and his fellow Democrats have themselves refused to accept the result of a recent election. When Democrat Stacey Abrams lost her gubernatorial race in Georgia by 55,000 votes, Holder and several 2020 Democratic contenders falsely claimed Abrams actually won the election.
Since leaving the Obama administration, Holder has taken up the issues of gerrymandering and voting rights. He chairs the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which aims to support Democratic candidates in state races to help in redistricting after the 2020 census.