Trump Predicts Broad Election Cheating, Without Giving Evidence

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump called into a television program on Thursday night to claim there will be election fraud and assail Joe Biden just before his challenger was to accept the Democratic nomination.

“This is going to be the most fraudulent election in history,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity, saying mail-in voting will lead to widespread cheating, even though there’s been no evidence of that in previous elections. “They’re trying to steal the election.”

Trump’s interview was timed to counter-program the conclusion of the four-day Democratic National Convention, where Biden is set to deliver a prime-time speech Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Trump traveled to Pennsylvania to criticize Biden from a town next to the Democrat’s birthplace. Biden was born in Scranton before his family moved to Delaware for work when Biden was a child.

Trump said earlier this month that only a “rigged” election would allow Biden would win in November, even as the Democrat leads in national polls and surveys of key states.

Trump said on Fox that he’d dispatch sheriffs, U.S. attorneys as well as attorneys general to polling places, without citing any authority he has to follow through.

Without offering evidence, Trump said mail-in ballots could be sent in after election day and still be counted. Nevada, the state whose mail-in voting plan he most regularly criticizes, requires a ballot be postmarked no later than election day to be counted.

Also on Fox, Trump said Biden is doing the bidding of his party’s left wing, and questioned why the nominee hasn’t taken more questions from reporters.

Trump said 401(k) retirement plans would sink if Biden wins. “They will go down 40 or 50% if he gets in,” Trump said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.