German golfer Bernhard Langer has denied reports he complained directly to US President Donald Trump about potential voter fraud, saying the facts have been “misconstrued” by the media.
The two-times Masters champion was at the centre of a story in the New York Times (NYT) this morning involving Mr Trump’s unproven claim of wide-scale voting irregularities in last November’s election.
During a get-together of Republicans and Democrats at the White House on Monday evening, the newspaper said an anecdote was told by Mr Trump about his “friend”, the golfer, who had witnessed voting fraud at a polling station in Florida.
He said Mr Langer had recounted to him that he was standing in line waiting to vote when an official told the golfer he would not be able to vote.
Mr Langer allegedly told Mr Trump that he saw people around him who did not look as if they should be allowed to vote, but who were allowed to cast provisional ballots.
But a statement released by Mr Langer said the report was a “mischaracterisation by the media”, and denied he had spoken directly to the President about the alleged incident.
He said the voting situation “was not conveyed from me to President Trump, but rather was told to me by a friend.
“I then relayed the story in conversation with another friend, who shared it with a person with ties to the White House.
“From there, this was misconstrued.”
The statement directly contradicts the anecdote recounted by Mr Trump.
It continued: “I am not a citizen of the United States, and cannot vote.
“It’s a privilege to live in the United States, and I am blessed to call America my home.
“I will have no further comment at this time.”
Mr Trump was allegedly met with silence after telling the story and his chief of staff Reince Priebus reportedly encouraged the President to change the subject.
The version of events reported by the NYT was denied by a White House official, who said the story was about the golfer’s his friend, not Mr Langer himself.
Mr Trump said on Wednesday that he intended to order a “major investigation” into voter fraud.
"You have people registered in two states. They're registered in a New York and a New Jersey. They vote twice," he told ABC.
"There are millions of votes, in my opinion. Of those votes cast, none of them come to me. None of them come to me."
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