Gov. Hogan Says There's 'No Defense' For Trump's Comments 'Undermining Our Democratic Process'

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is the latest state politician to take aim at President Donald Trump as the president's campaign pursues legal action in a number of key battleground states that continue to count ballots that will determine who wins the White House.

Trump addressed reporters from the White House briefing room around 6:45 p.m. Thursday. In his remarks, the president argued his dwindling lead in a number of key states was due to illegal votes, despite a lack of evidence to support the claim.

"If you count the legal votes, I easily win," Trump said. He also accused Democrats of trying to steal the election.

Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted: "All of the recent Biden claimed States will be legally challenged by us for Voter Fraud and State Election Fraud. Plenty of proof - just check out the Media. WE WILL WIN! America First!"

Less than an hour later, Hogan, a fellow Republican, tweeted: "There is no defense for the President's comments tonight undermining our Democratic process. America is counting the votes, and we must respect the results as we always have before. No election or person is more important than our Democracy."

Hogan's tweet included a clip of an interview with PBS' Margaret Hoover. During that interview, he said it's wrong to question the entire voting process but added the states should root out issues that do arise.

Hogan also said he's concerned Trump won't concede if he loses.

While Hogan said he's not suggesting Trump shouldn't fight to make sure votes are counted, if it becomes clear the president has lost and there are no legitimate challenges to the results, "I will be pushing and I think other people in my party hopefully will be there, too, to make sure that he does the right thing for the country."

During a news conference prior to the president's remarks on Thursday, Hogan said he was pleased with how Maryland conducted the election despite the coronavirus pandemic.

He said he hasn't seen any evidence of widespread voter fraud anywhere, though there may be small numbers of isolated incidents around the country.

WATCH BELOW: Hogan's Full News Conference

Earlier in the day, Baltimore Mayor-Elect Brandon Scott tweeted Trump should "Save what little dignity that you have left and encourage your supporters to respect the will of the American people," adding the changing vote counts are more ballots are tallied is "not cheating it's running a complete & fair election process."

Follow the latest election updates on CBSNews.com.

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