President-elect Donald Trump repeated a widely debunked claim on Sunday that millions of people voted illegally in the recent 2016 presidential election.

Trump's self-serving tweet was immediately slammed by critics and journalists.

They pointed out that Trump's tweet was based on unverified information provided by a single Republican operative who offered no substantiating evidence or data to support his claim. There is no evidence of widespread illegal or non-citizen voting.

Snopes traced Trump's claim back to a Twitter user named Gregg Phillips.

He describes himself as the founder of VoteStand, "America's first online fraud reporting app.”

Snopes reported that Phillips' 3 million figure is completely unverified:

"Phillips offers no evidence whatsoever to back up the claim that he 'verified' more than 3 million non-citizen votes. Nor does he divulge his data sources or methodology, much less explain how it was possible to 'verify' 3 million fraudulent votes within five days of a national election. In point of fact, Phillips bluntly refuses to share this information with journalists, claiming it will be released 'in open form to the American people.'"

PolitiFact, a fact-checking site run by the Tampa Bay Times, also cast doubt on Phillips' tweet:

"Phillips would not provide any additional information when asked by PolitiFact. He said he has chosen not to release more information because he is still working on analyzing the data and verifying its accuracy. Phillips would also not say what the data is or where it came from, or what methodology he used. Phillips said he would release the information publicly once he is finally finished."

PolitiFact also reported that Phillips is a GOP operative:

"According to his page on LinkedIn, Phillips is a former finance director of the Alabama Republican Party. He also served as executive director of the Mississippi Republican Party and was managing director of a super PAC that supported Newt Gingrich’s 2012 campaign for president."

ATTN: has previously reported that Trump's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, won the popular vote by a historic margin.

Trump's allegation is only the latest example of his reliance on conservative sources that serve up fake news.

(Phillips denied to PolitiFact that he has any connection with VoteFraud.org.)