Hours after raising possibility on Twitter, Trump denies intention to delay November election

Washington, July 31

US President Donald Trump stated that he would not wish to delay the November election, hours after elevating the chance on Twitter.

“Do I want to see a date change? No,” Xinhua information company quoted Trump as saying throughout a press convention on the White House on Thursday.

“I don’t want a delay. I want to have the election… But I don’t want to see a crooked election,” he stated, doubling down his criticism of mail-in voting.

“But I additionally do not wish to have to attend for 3 months after which discover out that the ballots are all lacking and the election doesn’t suggest something. That’s what is going on to occur… that is frequent sense.

“Mail-in ballots will lead to the greatest fraud,” the President added.

In a tweet on Thursday morning, Trump claimed — with out offering any proof or proof — that “universal mail-in voting” would make November’s vote “the most inaccurate & fraudulent election in history”.

“It will be a great embarrassment to the USA,” he stated. “Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” The tweet instantly ignited a political firestorm and has drawn bipartisan pushback from Capitol Hill, as authorized analysts agreed that Trump has no authority to delay the election because the US Constitution offers Congress the ability to set the date.

Election Day takes place on the Tuesday after the primary Monday in November, as decided by federal regulation. Moving the date would require an act of Congress.

Top Republicans — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy — have each dismissed the thought.

McConnell stated no US presidential election had ever been delayed earlier than.

“Never in the history of this country, through wars, depressions and the Civil War, have we ever not had a federally scheduled election on time. We will find a way to do that again this November third,” the BBC quoted McConnell as saying to the native Kentucky station, WNKY.

McCarthy echoed him. “Never in the history of the federal elections have we ever not held an election and we should go forward with our election.” Trump ally Senator Lindsay Graham in the meantime stated a delay was “not a good idea”.

However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to be drawn on Trump’s suggestion.

Quizzed by reporters on whether or not a President may delay an election, he stated he wouldn’t “enter a legal judgement on the fly”.

When pressed, he stated the Justice Department would “make that legal determination”, including: “We want an election that everyone is confident in.” The spokesman for Trump’s re-election marketing campaign, Hogan Gidley, stated the President had simply been “raising a question”.

IANS