Top Republications have come out to reject calls by President Donald Trump for the November presidential elections to be delayed over alleged fraud concerns.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel and his Minority counterpart Kevin McCarthy have both dismissed Trump’s suggestion.
According to them, the President does not have the authority to postpone the election, any elections delay would have been approved by the Congress.
Earlier in the week, Trump had suggested that increased postal voting could result in fraud and inaccurate results.
The President floated delay unit; people could “properly, securely and safely” vote. The is little evidence to support his claims but he has constantly railed against postal voting, which he said would be susceptible to fraud.
The United States wants to make mail-in voting easier citing public health concern over the coronavirus pandemic.
The President’s intervention comes at a time when new figures show that the US economy has greatly suffered the worst contraction since the Great Depression of the 1330s.
Senator McConnell argued that no US presidential election had ever been delayed before.
“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,” he told local Kentucky station WNKY.
Mr. McConnell’s statement was echoed by McCarthy who said; “Never in the history of the federal elections have we ever not held an election and we should go forward with our election.”
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Senator Lindsay Graham, a close ally to President Trump also opposed the idea by the President, he said a delay was “not a good idea”.
When he was reached out for a comment on the matter, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to be drawn on Trump’s suggestion. When asked for a comment Pompeo said he would not “enter a legal judgment on the fly”.
And according to Trump’s re-election campaign spokesman, Hogan Gidley, the President was just raising a question.
