President Donald Trump said in an interview on Fox Business Network on Thursday that he opposes injecting new funding into the U.S. Postal Service because he believes it will support mail-in voting come November.
"They [the Democrats] want three-and-a-half billion dollars for something that'll turn out to be fraudulent — that's election money basically," Trump said.
Congressman Ami Bera (D-Calif. 7th District) told Cheddar that Trump's statement reflects a transparent effort to undermine democracy by allowing the post office to go underfunded as it prepares for a potential surge in mail-in ballots.
"Kudos to the president for being honest," he said. "We knew all along that he was trying to undermine the Postal Service to try to win the election."
Bera said Democrats will continue to "use the bully pulpit" to support postal employees, and push for additional funding in the Phase 4 coronavirus relief bill, which appears nowhere near passing according to congressional leaders.
"We will continue to try to push funding there," Bera said. "We'll continue to shine the light on this."
The congressman pointed out that many of Trump's own voters are elderly, living in states that are especially hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and that denying funding to the Postal Service could have unintended consequences for both parties.
"He may unintentionally suppress his own votes," Bera said.
Israel rolled tanks into northern Gaza for what the military called a targeted raid aiming to destroy Hamas infrastructure. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council failed to pass two separate resolutions proposed by the U.S. and Russia on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza.
Republican Mike Johnson is the new speaker of the House, but the ally of Donald Trump inherits many of the same political problems that have tormented past GOP leaders.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday spoke out against retaliatory attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. He also says he's redoubling his commitment to working on a two-state solution.
The U.N. warned on Wednesday that it is on the verge of running out of fuel in the Gaza Strip, forcing it to sharply curtail relief efforts in the territory blockaded and devastated by Israeli airstrikes since Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel more than two weeks ago.
The judge in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial fined the former president $10,000 on Wednesday, saying Trump violated a limited gag order barring personal attacks on court staffers.
Republicans eagerly elected Rep. Mike Johnson as House speaker on Wednesday, elevating a deeply conservative but lesser-known leader to the seat of U.S. power and ending for now the political chaos in their majority.
With mail theft and postal carrier robberies up, law enforcement officials have made more than 600 arrests since May in a crackdown launched to address crime that includes carriers being accosted at gunpoint for their antiquated universal keys, the Postal Service announced Wednesday.
