Trump explains why he cast a mail ballot in Florida’s election: ‘Because I’m president’
Just days after calling mail-in voting “mail-in cheating,” President Donald Trump explained Thursday why he decided to vote by mail in Florida’s recent special election.
“You know what, because I’m president of the United States, and because I’m president of the United States, I voted by mail for the election that was held in Florida,” he told reporters during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
“I decided I was going to vote by mail because I couldn’t be there because I had a lot of different things going on,” he added.
In-person early voting was available during Florida’s House District 87 special election March 14-22 in two Palm Beach County locations, including weekends, a staff member with the Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor’s Office confirmed to NBC News by phone Thursday.
Trump spent the second weekend of early voting, March 20-22, at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. He was at his golf course this weekend.
On Tuesday, the same day as the election, Trump hosted an inauguration ceremony for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin at the White House. He also participated in several political meetings, in accordance with his public schedule.
As recently as Monday, Trump again criticized the practice of voting by mail.
“Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating,” he said during a panel discussion on reducing the crime rate in Memphis, Tennessee.
The president has long attacked mail-in ballots, often claiming, without evidence, that they are the cause of widespread voter fraud.
In 2020, Trump also admitted to voting by mail, saying at the time that he did so: “Because I’m allowed to.”
“There’s a big difference between someone being out of state and voting and having everything sealed and certified and everything else,” he said at the time. “I think mail-in voting is a terrible thing. I think if you vote, you should go for it.”
Thursday’s comments come amid Trump’s efforts to push a massive election overhaul bill called the SAVE America Act through Congress. It would not end mail-in voting, although Trump has suggested in public comments that it would.
In an article on Truth Social Sunday, the president urged Republicans not to make a deal with Democrats to end the ongoing shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, “UNLESS it includes their endorsement of voter ID (with photo!), citizenship to vote, mail-in voting (with exceptions), paper ballots, banning men in women’s sports, and transgender misuse of our precious children.”
In his comments at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, the president explained that his mail-in vote in this week’s election was an “exception.”
“You know we have exceptions for mail-in ballots? You know that, don’t you? » Trump said.
“So if you’re out, we have an exception. If you’re in the military, we have an exception. If you’re on business, we have an exception. If you’re disabled, we have an exception. And if you’re sick, if you’re not feeling well. So I was mostly in Washington, D.C., so I used a mail-in ballot,” he added.
On Monday, White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said it was a “non-story” that Trump voted by mail.
“As President Trump has said, the SAVE America Act provides common-sense exceptions allowing Americans to use mail-in voting in cases of illness, disability, military or travel – but universal mail-in voting should not be allowed because it is highly susceptible to fraud,” she said in a statement to NBC News. “As everyone knows, the president resides in Palm Beach and is participating in elections in Florida, but he obviously lives primarily at the White House in Washington, D.C.”
In Tuesday’s special election, Democrat Emily Gregory flipped the state district from Republicans to Democrats, defeating Republican Jon Maples, who had been endorsed by Trump.
