总统唐纳德·特朗普周四在福克斯新闻的一次采访中暗示，他不愿意与民主党人就大流行救援达成协议，其中包括为境况不佳的美国邮政服务提供急需的资金，只是在当天晚些时候的一次新闻发布会上说，他不会否决一项包括资金在内的法案。
他最初的言论引发了众议院议长南希·佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)和其他批评人士的新警告，称特朗普利用救助法案的僵局，进一步反对邮寄投票——损害了邮政服务部门在11月选举中处理数百万张额外选票的能力。
特朗普几周来一直反对邮寄投票，做出无数虚假的声明为了质疑即将到来的选举的公正性，他经常重复，声称邮寄投票会导致选民欺诈。
与此同时，总统周三要求佛罗里达州棕榈滩县选举当局邮寄选票，根据办公室网站，棕榈滩县选举监督员当天就将选票邮寄给他。该州的初选将于8月18日举行。
特朗普通过邮件投票并不是一个新现象，因为这是他以前做过的事，几次，也是他的员工和家人做过的事。
作为特朗普的捐赠者，新任邮政局长路易斯·德约伊(Louis DeJoy)最近对该机构进行了几项改革，这些改革可能会中断数百万美国人的邮件，尤其是在选举日之前的缺席和邮寄投票。
特朗普说:“现在，他们需要这笔钱来让邮局运转起来，这样就可以把这几百万张选票都拿走。”星期四说福克斯商业网。
“现在，如果我们不做交易，那就意味着他们拿不到钱。这意味着他们不能进行普遍的邮寄投票，他们就是不能。”
2020年8月13日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在白宫椭圆形办公室举行新闻发布会。
在接受福克斯采访时，他的建议引发了批评者的指责，称他试图操纵邮政系统以获取政治利益。此后，在每日新闻发布会上，有人问他是否“威胁要否决任何包括为邮局提供资金在内的立法。”
他回答说:“不，一点也不。”
“现在发生的事情是，这是一个大谈判的一部分，这是一个大谈判的一小部分，以获得更多的钱给人们，这不是他们的错，这是中国的错。邮局是其中的一部分。”
另一个问题是，他为什么不像民主党人希望的那样，向邮政服务投入更多资源，帮助它处理邮寄投票。在回答这个问题时，奥巴马总统说，“如果他们达成协议，邮政服务就会得到照顾，他们邮寄选票所需的钱也会得到照顾，这并不意味着我们会同意，但他们所要做的就是达成协议。”
"那么，你会签署包括资金在内的东西吗?"一名记者问道。他说:“当然，另外一件事，我会做的。”
周四的讲话是在特朗普前天，即周三，在他的每日大流行新闻发布会上发表的评论之后。特朗普表示，他不会批准为邮政服务提供250亿美元的紧急资金，也不会批准为选举资源提供35亿美元的补充资金，理由是成本太高。
“他们没有钱进行普遍的邮寄投票。因此，我想他们做不到。”“即使他们没有钱，他们也要这么做吗?”
今年5月，民主党人通过立法来解决正在进行的冠状病毒公共卫生危机，包括在三年内拨款250亿美元给邮政服务。民主党领导人还提议追加35亿美元的补充资金，以保护联邦选举。
民主党人坚持认为，为邮政服务提议的250亿美元直接来自该机构的理事会，而不是民主党人自己。
对总统言论的强烈反应是迅速的。
2020年8月5日，邮政局长路易斯·德约伊在国会大厦会见众议院议长南希·佩洛西和参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默后离开。
佩洛西宣称特朗普“害怕美国人民”，并指责他为选民制造障碍。
“有人认为邮局是这次选举的中心。佩洛西周四在国会山举行的每周新闻发布会上说:“也许总统也这么认为，这就是为什么他要关闭它。”“总统害怕美国人民。他已经害怕了一段时间，他知道在法律上，他很难赢。所以他想设置参与的障碍。”
她补充说:“…这是一个健康问题，你不应该在你的健康和你投票的能力之间作出选择。”
与此同时，特朗普在周四宣称:“出去投票没什么错。你出去投票。他们在第一次和第二次世界大战期间投票。”
总统候选人乔·拜登的竞选团队也参与了对总统声明的指责，称他的指控是“对我们民主的攻击。”
拜登的发言人安德鲁贝茨(Andrew Bates)在一份声明中说:“美国总统正在破坏数亿人所依赖的基本服务，切断了农村经济和药品供应的关键生命线，因为他想剥夺美国人在100多年来最灾难性的公共卫生危机期间安全投票的基本权利，而这场危机由于他自己失败的领导而更加恶化，以至于我们现在是世界上受冠状病毒疫情影响最严重的国家。”
“甚至连唐纳德·特朗普自己的竞选团队都支持通过邮件投票，他自己的政府也断然驳斥了他关于最安全投票形式的疯狂阴谋论。贝茨说:“这是一个绝望的人对我们的民主和经济的攻击，他害怕美国人民会迫使他面对他几个月来为逃避对自己行为的责任所做的一切。”
加州民主党人佩洛西和其他174名民主党人签署了周三发给德约伊的一封信，要求该机构撤销那些他们认为会妨碍11月3日邮寄投票的操作变更。
2020年8月13日，众议院议长南希·佩洛西在华盛顿国会山举行每周新闻发布会。
「邮政服务必须能够及时有效地派递邮件。议员们在信中说:“在COVID-19百年一遇的健康和经济危机期间，邮政服务的顺利运作事关生死，对于保护生命、生计和我们美国民主的生命至关重要。”
“众议院严重关切的是，你们正在实施加速邮政服务危机的政策，包括指示邮局不再将所有选举邮件视为头等邮件。如果现在实施，随着选举的临近，这一政策将导致选举邮件的进一步延误，从而剥夺选民的选举权，并给选举管辖区带来巨大的财政压力。”
佩洛西和参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默也在本月早些时候在国会山与德约伊举行了一次会议，舒默后来告诉记者，会议“非常激烈。”
德约伊本月发表了自己的声明，为自己的行为辩护。
德约伊在一份声明中说:“尽管由于流感大流行，选举邮件数量可能会出现前所未有的增长，但邮政部门有足够的能力按照我们的投递标准安全、准时地投递所有选举邮件，我们将这样做。”
Trump suggests he'd oppose USPS funding to hurt mail-in voting, then says he won't
PresidentDonald Trumpsuggested in a Fox News interview on Thursday that he was unwilling to strike a deal with Democrats on pandemic relief that includes desperately-needed money for the ailing U.S. Postal Service, only to say later in the day at a news conference that he would not veto a bill that included funding.
His initial comments triggered new warnings from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other critics that Trump was using the standoff over the relief bill to further his opposition to mail-in voting -- by hurting the ability of the Postal Service to handle millions of extra ballots in November's election.
Trump has for weeks railed against mail-in voting,making numerous false claimsthat he repeats regularly in a bid to question the integrity of the upcoming election by asserting that mail-in voting will lead to voter fraud.
Meanwhile, the president on Wednesday requested a mail-in ballot from the elections authority in Palm Beach County, Florida, and the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections mailed it to him the same day, according to the office’s website. The state's primary election will be held on Aug. 18.
Trump voting by mail isn't a new phenomenon as it is something he has done before, several times, as well as members of his staff and family.
The new head of the Postal Service, Louis DeJoy -- a Trump donor -- recently made several changes to the agency that could potentially disrupt mail for millions of Americans, particularly absentee and mail-in ballots ahead of Election Day.
"Now, they need that money in order to make the post office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots," Trumpsaid Thursdayon Fox Business Network.
"Now, if we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money. That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting, they just can’t have it," he added.
After his suggestion in the Fox interview fueled allegations from critics that he is seeking to manipulate the postal system for political gain, he was asked later at his daily press briefing whether he was "threatening to veto any legislation that includes funding for the post office."
He responded, "No, not at all."
"What has happened is that's part of a big negotiation, that's a small part of a big negotiation to get more money to people that it wasn't their fault, it was China's fault. And the post office is part of it," he added.
In response to another question about why he doesn't put more resources toward the Postal Service to help it handle mail-in voting as Democrats want, the president said, "If they make a deal, the Postal Service is taken care of, the money they need for the mail in ballots will be taken care of, that doesn't mean we are going to agree to it, but all they have to do is make a deal."
"So, you would sign something that does include funding?" a reporter asked. "Sure, a separate thing, I would do it," he said.
Thursday's remarks follow comments Trump made just the day before, on Wednesday, at his daily pandemic press briefing. Trump said he would not approve $25 billion in emergency funding for the Postal Service, or $3.5 billion in supplemental funding for election resources, citing high costs.
"They don’t have the money to do the universal mail-in voting. So therefore, they can’t do it, I guess," Trump said. "Are they going to do it even if they don’t have the money?"
In May, Democrats passed legislation to address the ongoingcoronaviruspublic health crisis that included allocating $25 billion over three years to the Postal Service. Democratic leaders also proposed an additional $3.5 billion in supplemental funding to protect federal elections.
Democrats have insisted that the proposed $25 billion for the Postal Service came in a plea directly from the agency’s Board of Governors and not from Democrats themselves.
The backlash to the president’s comments was swift.
Pelosi declared Trump as "afraid of the American people" and blamed him for creating obstacles for voters.
"There are people who think that the post office is election central in this election. Maybe the president thinks that, too, and that's why he wants to shut it down," Pelosi said Thursday during her weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill. "The president is afraid of the American people. He's been afraid for a while, he knows that on the legit, it'd be hard for him to win. So he wants to put obstacles of participation."
"…it's a health issue, you shouldn't have to choose between your health and your ability to cast your vote," she added.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Trump declared: "There's nothing wrong with getting out and voting. You get out and vote. They voted during World War I and World War II."
Presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign also weighed in to cry foul over the president’s statements, calling his accusations an "assault on our democracy."
"The President of the United States is sabotaging a basic service that hundreds of millions of people rely upon, cutting a critical lifeline for rural economies and for delivery of medicines, because he wants to deprive Americans of their fundamental right to vote safely during the most catastrophic public health crisis in over 100 years -- a crisis so devastatingly worsened by his own failed leadership that we are now the hardest hit country in the world by the coronavirus pandemic," Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.
"Even Donald Trump's own campaign has endorsed voting by mail and his own administration has conclusively refuted his wild-eyed conspiracy theories about the most secure form of voting. This is an assault on our democracy and economy by a desperate man who's terrified that the American people will force him to confront what he's done everything in his power to escape for months -- responsibility for his own actions," Bates said.
Pelosi, D-Calif., and 174 other Democrats signed a letter sent Wednesday to DeJoy demanding the agency reverses those operational changes they contend would hamper mail-in voting on Nov. 3.
"It is always essential that the Postal Service be able to deliver mail in a timely and effective manner. During the once-in-a-century health and economic crisis of COVID-19, the Postal Service's smooth functioning is a matter of life-or-death, and is critical for protecting lives, livelihoods and the life of our American Democracy," the lawmakers said in their letter.
"The House is seriously concerned that you are implementing policies that accelerate the crisis at the Postal Service, including directing Post Offices to no longer treat all election mail as First Class. If implemented now, as the election approaches, this policy will cause further delays to election mail that will disenfranchise voters and put significant financial pressure on election jurisdictions."
Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also held a meeting with DeJoy on Capitol Hill earlier this month that Schumer later told reporters was "heated."
DeJoy released his own statement this month defending his practices.
"Although there will likely be an unprecedented increase in election mail volume due to the pandemic, the Postal Service has ample capacity to deliver all election mail securely and on-time in accordance with our delivery standards, and we will do so," DeJoy said in a statement.
