Bolton: Trump will announce he's won early, hoping to influence voters

Former national security adviser John Bolton predicted in a recent interview that former President Trump will declare victory in the White House race as early as Tuesday night.

When asked on BBC Newsnight if he thinks Trump will accept the outcome of the presidential election if he loses, Bolton replied, "Of course not."

"He'll declare that he's won," he added.

"I'm predicting between 9 and 10 o'clock he'll announce that he's won and hope that the states in the West — Arizona, Nevada, where polls will still be open — might be susceptible to what he has to say," the former adviser said.

Bolton's claim echoes that of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who also warned Monday evening about Trump potentially declaring an early victory in an interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Monday, saying that "everybody should be aware."

Last week, Bolton had said in a different interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins that he doesn't think the former president will accept the results and warned that "we should be ready for it."

When asked if he thought the former president would accept an outcome that doesn’t favor a second Trump term, Bolton replied, “No, I don’t think so," adding that pre-election litigation has been piling up ahead of November as Republicans have filed challenges related to proof-of-citizenship requirements and mail-in ballot deadlines and Democrats have challenged state election officials who have expanded their roles.

There are currently more than 200 voting and election cases pending across the nation, according to Marc Elias, a leader of Vice President Harris’s election litigation efforts.

The Hill has contacted the Trump campaign for comment.