House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) in an interview on Saturday criticized President Trump’s opposition to mail-in voting, saying the president is “signing a death warrant for a lot of people.”
“We ought not be crippling the Post Office and for the president to admit that he is doing this in order to gum up the works when it comes to the elections, he is actually signing a death warrant for a lot of people that he ought not be doing this,” Clyburn said on CNN.
He added that the election in November would not be free and fair “if it’s left up to the president.”
Trump for months has leveled claims that increased mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic would result in widespread fraud. Experts, however, say those assertions are baseless.
Last Thursday, the president suggested during a Fox Business interview that he was opposed to additional funding for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) because it would help implement universal mail-in voting this fall. He later shifted and said he would approve funding if Democrats made concessions sought by the White House.
Trump on Saturday denied that his administration was seeking to create delays in mail ahead of the November election and attempted to shift blame to Democrats for a lack of USPS funding.
He also expressed support for actions taken by his new postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, who has come under growing scrutiny over changes he has made at the USPS ahead of the election.
“He is a fantastic man. He wants to make the Post Office great again,” the president said. DeJoy, a major Republican donor, was tapped to lead the Post Office in May.
Clyburn also told CNN on Saturday that the late Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), his friend, would be “disappointed” by Trump’s opposition to mail-in voting.
“John Lewis would be so disappointed that he … nearly gave his life to get the vote for people of color and to watch [the] complicity of the Republicans in holding onto this kind of shenanigans is just beyond me,” he said.
The Hill has requested comment from the White House on Clyburn’s comments.