Joe Biden says his 'single greatest fear' is that Donald Trump will try to 'steal the election' and says military might have to 'escort him from the White House'

Joe Biden said his 'single greatest fear' is that President Donald Trump will try to steal the November election but he noted he was confident the military would step in and enforce the results should he win and Trump refuse to leave the White House.

The presumptive Democratic nominee told Trevor Noah Wednesday night that he was worried about the presidential contest, citing Trump's criticism of the mail-in voting options many states have put into place to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

'It's my greatest concern, my single greatest concern. This president is going to try to steal this election,' Biden told the 'Daily Show.'

'This is a guy who said that all mail-in ballots are fraudulent - direct voting by mail - while he sits behind the desk in Oval Office and writes his mail-in ballot to vote in the primary,' he said, adding that his campaign had lawyers ready to step in and enforce voting rights.

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Joe Biden said his 'single greatest fear' is that President Donald Trump will try to steal the November election during his interview with 'Daily Show' host Trevor Noah

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Joe Biden noted he was confident the military would escort President Donald Trump from the White House should Biden win in November and Trump refuse to concede

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President Trump was criticized by retired military officials when his administration used force to remove peaceful protesters from around the White House

Biden also addressed fears among Democrats that Trump would refuse to concede the election should the former vice president beat him in November. He pointed to the former Joint Chiefs of Staff who have criticized Trump in recent days and said he was confident the military would escort Trump out of the White House should it come to it.

'I was so damn proud. You have four chiefs of staff coming out and ripping the skin off Trump. And you have so many rank and file military personnel saying: Whoa. We're not a military state. This is not who we are. I promise you - I am absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch,' he said.

Such a move would be unprecedented in American history. 

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany called it 'ridiculous.'

'That's a ridiculous proposition. This president's looking forward to November. This president's hard at work for the American people. And leave it to Democrats to go out there and grandstand and level these conspiracy theories,' she told Fox News Thursday morning.

And Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said is was a 'brainless conspiracy theory.' 

'This is just another brainless conspiracy theory from Joe Biden as he continues to try to undermine confidence in our elections,' he said in a statement. 'It was the Obama Administration that tried to subvert an election by spying on the Trump campaign in 2016 and Biden himself was part of the effort to sabotage the incoming Trump Administration because they couldn't live with President Trump's victory. President Trump has been clear that he will accept the results of the 2020 election.'

President Trump was asked, on 'Meet the Press' in June of last year, if he would accept the 2020 election result.

'100%. Sure,' he said at the time. 

After the Trump administration used force to remove Black Lives Matter protesters from Lafayette Square - the area around the White House - several prominent, retired members of the military criticized the president for the approach.

Those included the current and a few former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - the nation's highest ranking military position - Colin Powell, Martin Dempsey, John Allen and Mark Milley.

Former Trump Cabinet members James Mattis and John Kelly, both retired Marine four-star generals, also criticized the president.

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Multiple reports of voting problems in Georgia's primary on Tuesday stoked fears about what will happen in November; above voters wait in line in Fulton County in Georgia's primary election on Tuesday

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Democrats accused Republicans in Georgia of voter suppression, noting most of the problems were in heavily black areas; above a voter reads a book while waiting in line to vote in a line stretched around the Metropolitan Library in Atlanta

Fears about the voting process in November were stoked after Georgia experienced massive problems in its primary on Tuesday: voting machines failed to work, a shortage of poll workers and social distancing measures caused long lines, voters claimed they didn't receive mail-in ballots, and polling places didn't have enough provision ballots to distribute to people.

Democrats accused Republicans of voter suppression, noting the most problems predominantly black neighborhoods in and around Atlanta. The Republican secretary of state's office blamed county officials for the chaos.

Many fear it was a preview of what may come in November.

Because of the coronavirus, several states expanded mail-in voting options to combat long lines at the polling place. Some states - such as California - are mailing ballots to all registered voters.  

Republicans are suing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and threatened lawsuits in other states. 

President Trump, who uses a mail-in ballot to vote in Florida, is a strong opponent of fhat option. He claimed last month that supporters of mail-in voting are using the coronavirus to try to 'scam' the November ballot box, claiming it will lead to the 'greatest Rigged Election in history.' 

'The United States cannot have all Mail In Ballots,' Trump tweeted on May 24.

'It will be the greatest Rigged Election in history. People grab them from mailboxes, print thousands of forgeries and 'force' people to sign. Also, forge names. Some absentee OK, when necessary. Trying to use Covid for this Scam!,' he noted.

Trump has long railed against mail-in voting, claiming without proof it leads to greater voter fraud. Last month he also threatened states looking to use that option with losing federal funds.

Democrats, meanwhile, are bracing for their own doomsday scenarios involving the pandemic. The Democratic National Committee has a group of lawyers in place to counter any moves Republicans might take to suppress voter turnout.

A number of scenarios the party was preparing for were outlined in The New York Times late last month including: 

• Trump declares a state of emergency in major cities in November to keep polling places from openings - cities tend to house more Democratic voters than Republican ones
• Shortly before the November election, Attorney General Bill Barr announces a major investigation into Democratic nominee Joe Biden
• Biden wins the Electoral College but Trump won't recognize the results and refuses to leave the White House 

Some Democrats have already expressed concern that President Trump will use the pandemic to postpone the November 3rd election, which the president has said he will not do and legal scholars say he cannot do.

They're also studying the 1876 presidential election, which is considered one of the most disputed in American history after 20 electoral votes from three states were contested in the aftermath of the Civil War.

That election was not decided until two days before inauguration day when Gov. Samuel Tilden of New York conceded to Gov. Rutherford Hayes of Ohio. Outgoing President Ulysses S. Grant had made contingency plans for martial law out of concern that a new commander-in-chief would not be sworn in.

Additionally, there are worries Trump will use the coronavirus outbreak to delegitimize the November result should Biden win.   

And the president has already threatened states - including ones that will be battlegrounds this fall - with punishment if they move to open up mail-in voting. 

Michigan was a target of his ire last month. 

'Michigan sends absentee ballot applications to 7.7 million people ahead of Primaries and the General Election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue Secretary of State. I will ask to hold up funding to Michigan if they want to go down this Voter Fraud path!,' he wrote on Twitter. 

He also threatened Nevada, which declared its June 9 primary an all-mail primary, meaning absentee ballots will be mailed to every active voter in the state. 

It was a blatant threat from the president to use his executive power against states that don't bend to his political will. 

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Martin Dempsey, the former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, criticized Trump's threat to use military force to suppress the protests last as did Colin Powell

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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley issued a public rebuke of Donald Trump  in a Thursday memo where the told troops to 'uphold the Constitution' as the president called the military to defend Washington D.C. against George Floyd rioters

But Trump didn't get specific on what kind of federal funds might be with held from the state. 'You'll be finding out that we finding out very soon if it's necessary,' he said when asked about it. 'I don't think it's going to be necessary.'

Trump has also argued that when states send out absentee ballots to all registered voters, it results in kids raiding mailboxes for ballots to be illegally signed and submitted. 

'Kids go and raid the mailboxes and hand to people signing the ballots down the street, which is happening, they grab the ballots. You don't think that happens?,' he said at the White House on May 28. 'You don't think they rip them out of mailboxes?' 

He claimed those who want to conduct voter fraud also print ballots. 

'They can even print ballots. They get the same paper, same machine, nothing is special. They get the same paper, the same machine, they print ballots,' he said.

The Republican Party has launched a $20 million effort to battle mail-in voting. Republicans have long complained about 'ballot harvesting' - their term for the process where someone (usually a party volunteer) collects absentee ballots from a group of people and mails them for them.  Democrats call it ballot collecting.

Numerous studies have shown that instances of voter fraud are very low. The conservative Heritage Foundation has kept a database of them for the past four years. It is up to 1,285 proven instances of voter fraud. In the 2016 election, 130 million Americans cast ballots. 

Trump has offered no proof of his claims even as he has repeatedly made him.

Twitter even marked two of his tweets on mail-in voting with blue, fact-check marks, a move that infuriated the president and resulted in him threatening more regulation on social media companies. 

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A soldier keeps watch at the Lincoln Memorial as thousands of peaceful demonstrators were met with a huge military presence Wednesday following a week of tenses clashes in the capital

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Many states are using mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic, above Dave Turnier processes mail-in ballots at at the Chester County Voter Services office in West Chester, Pa., prior to the Pennsylvania primary election

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A voter cast her mail-in ballot at in a drop box in West Chester, Pa., prior to the primary election

Trump also has complained mail-in voting hurts Republican candidates. He railed against a California special election using the method in May. The Republican candidate won that race. 

The president wrote on Twitter on April 8, ahead of the California contest, that: 'Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it. Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, (it) doesn't work out well for Republicans.'  

Five states already conduct all their voting by mail: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah.  

Democrats have argued Republicans oppose mail-in voting as it makes it easier for Democratic supporters - such as blue-collar workers who would have a tougher time taking off work to get a polling place - to vote. Young people also tend to tilt more Democratic, but are also less likely to vote in-person. 

President Trump has voted absentee both when he lived in New York and when he switched his residency to Florida. 

Voters have indicated they support voting by mail, particularly this year.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll in late April found that around two-thirds of registered voters supported voting by mail in this year's election.

In two-thirds of the states, any qualified voter may vote absentee without offering an excuse, and in one-third of the states, an excuse is required, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But many states - including West Virginia and Virginia - are adding fear of the coronavirus as a valid excuse to request an absentee ballot. 

House Democrats included $3.6 billion in election funding as part of the $3 trillion coronavirus relief package they unveiled last week. The money is intended to help states with programs like mail-in voting. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called voting by mail a 'health issue.'

The coronavirus pandemic, which as infected more than 2 million Americans and caused more than 115,000 deaths, has upended the primary season.

New York canceled its June primary because of the disease and 15 other states moved back or extended mail-in voting for their primaries.

Such moves have been controversial and lawsuits have been filed with the argument people have the right to vote.   

New York's case illustrates that. Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang sued the state over the move. And the judicial branch showed its strong commitment to protecting the right to vote, ordering the election to go forward. State officials have appealed. 

Additionally, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers lost his bid last month to delay his state's primary until June. The court ordered it to go forward amid criticism that in-person voting could contribute to the spread of the coronavirus. Voters queued to vote on April 7 in long lines - many of them wearing face masks and practicing social distancing - due to the limited number of polling places open because of a shortage of workers to staff them.

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Twitter posted a blue exclamation mark alert underneath two of Trump's tweets about potential for fraud with mail-in voting, prompting users to 'get the facts about mail-in ballots'

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President Trump threatened social media companies when he spoke at the White House last month with Attorney General Bill Barr looking over his shoulder

The Wisconsin Department of Health traced 19 cases of the coronavirus to that election. 

Trump has long sounded the voter fraud drum beat. 

After the 2016 election, he launched a voting integrity commission, led by then-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to investigate Trump's unsubstantiated claim that between 3 million and 5 million ballots were illegally cast.

The commission found no evidence of wrong doing. Trump disbanded it in 2018.