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US Officials Reject Claims of Rigged Presidential Election

Jeff Seldin

   Senior U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials say there are no
   indications that foreign adversaries are trying to undermine the
   upcoming U.S. presidential election by targeting mail-in ballots or
   mail-in voting.

   "We have no information or intelligence that any nation state threat
   actor is engaging in any kind of activity to undermine any part of the
   mail-in vote or ballots," a senior U.S. intelligence official said
   Wednesday. "We have no information or intelligence on that."

   A senior law enforcement official went even further, telling reporters
   that there was also nothing to suggest forces or groups within the
   country were seeking to rig the November 3 election by targeting or
   manipulating mail-in ballots.

   "We have not seen, to date, a coordinated national voter fraud effort
   during a major election," the senior FBI official stated.

   "It would be extraordinarily difficult to change a federal election
   outcome through this type of fraud alone, given the range of processes
   that would need to be affected or compromised by an adversary at the
   local level," the official added.

   The officials shared the assessments regarding mail-in voting, as well
   as information on other potential threats to the election, during a
   phone briefing with reporters on the condition that they not be named.

   They said more detailed information was also being shared Wednesday in
   a separate, secure threat briefing for state and local election
   officials from across the United States.

   The comments by the senior U.S. officials from multiple agencies --
   including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI
   and the Department of Homeland Security -- may reassure some U.S.
   voters, many of whom will be voting by mail because of concerns about
   the coronavirus pandemic.

   But the assessments run contrary to repeated claims by U.S. President
   Donald Trump that the wide-scale use of mail-in ballots will lead to
   the "most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history."

     With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good),
     2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history.
     It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election
     until people can properly, securely and safely vote???
     -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [1]July 30, 2020

   Trump's fraud concerns

   Early on, Trump contended that the use of mail-in ballots would provide
   an opportunity for countries like Russia and China to print and send
   out forgeries, which could sway the outcome of the election.

     RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY
     FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!
     -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [2]June 22, 2020

   This week, minutes after delegates at the Republican National
   Convention formally nominated him as the party's presidential
   candidate, Trump accused rival Democrats of pushing the use of mail-in
   ballots to rig the vote.

   "They're trying to steal the election," the president told delegates at
   the convention, without presenting any evidence, adding the November
   vote would be "the greatest scam in the history of politics."

References

   1. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1288818160389558273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   2. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1275024974579982336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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