President Donald Trump has responded to strong criticism and rebuttal of his claims of massive levels of voter fraud by calling for “major investigation” into voter fraud.

There is no solid evidence to back up his claims. This appears to be a massive ego exercise, with Trump seemingly determined to prove he deserved to win the popular vote in the presidential election. The actual vote count:

• Hillary Clinton 65,844,954 (48.2%)
• Donald Trump 62,979,879 (46.1%)

Yesterday the New York Times reported: Spicer confirms from podium that yes, Trump believes millions voted illegally

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, confirmed on Tuesday that President Trump has long believed that millions of undocumented immigrants voted illegally in the 2016 election.

“He said 3 to 5 million people could have voted illegally, based on the studies that he’s seen,” Mr. Spicer told stunned reporters, acknowledging a statement that Mr. Trump made privately in a meeting with congressional leaders on Monday afternoon.

Mr. Trump and his aides repeatedly suggested during the transition period that “irregularities” contributed to his popular-vote loss by nearly 3 million ballots to Hillary Clinton. Mr. Trump won the Electoral College, but his 2-percentage-point popular vote loss to Mrs. Clinton was the largest for a winning presidential candidate since the disputed election of 1876.

Democrats and some Republicans have pointed to that margin to claim that Mr. Trump is an illegitimate president. Such assertions have rankled Mr. Trump deeply.

Trump clearly won the election via the US Electoral College system, but that’s not enough for him, he seems obsessed with ratings and overall voting levels.

A November 2016 blog post on Infowars, the conspiracy theory-focused website run by radio host Alex Jones, posited the idea that roughly 3 million people voted illegally. Mr. Jones has hosted Mr. Trump on his radio show in the past.

The assertion was based on tweets from a self-proclaimed voter expert, who claimed to have a study. However, there’s no evidence of the study. And officials in swing states where Mr. Trump secured victory, many of which are governed by Republicans, say that there is no evidence of such fraud.

Mr. Spicer also made vague reference to another Pew Research Center study that supposedly backed up Mr. Trump, but the author of the study in question, David Becker, now executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, tweeted again that no such fraud happened.

The voter fraud claims are false or at least unsubstantiated claims – some could call it fake news.

When a reporter pointed out to Mr. Spicer that such widespread fraud would be one of the biggest scandals in American electoral history and asked why the administration isn’t investigating, the press secretary said, “Maybe we will.”

It looks like they will investigate. Politico reports: Trump calls for ‘major investigation’ into alleged voter fraud

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will call for a “major investigation” into voter fraud, which he believes led to millions of illegally cast ballots in last year’s presidential election despite no evidence to support that conclusion.

“I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!” Trump wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning, breaking his message up into multiple posts.

The claims are backed by nothing or no one credible.

In a statement released Tuesday, the National Association of Secretaries of State said “we are not aware of any evidence that supports the voter fraud claims made by President Trump, but we are open to learning more about the administration’s concerns.”

Voting systems are run by US states, many of them under Republican administrations.

So this looks like little more than another exercise in narcissist behaviour by Trump – albeit a potentially expensive one.

And what if a major investigation doesn’t find 3 million fraudulent votes?

An investigation is a big risk for Trump – if it doesn’t substantiate his claims it will not only highlight false claims but it will also put more spotlight on him having trailed Clinton substantially in the popular vote.

This seems to be a no [-win situation for Trump. He has already won the election.  And the risks are far greater than the outside chance he can prove he was the most popular candidate.