WH Doesn’t Have A Good Explanation For Trump’s Michigan Tweets

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks to the press on May 20, 2020, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP ... White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks to the press on May 20, 2020, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany dodged Wednesday when asked what, exactly, was illegal about Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson sending out absentee voting applications to all registered voters in the state, after President Trump went after the state official on Twitter earlier in the day.

Trump criticized Benson’s mail-in voting initiative in a series of tweets early Wednesday, erroneously alleging that she sent out absentee ballots and threatening to withhold federal funding to the swing state as a result. Trump later reposted the same tweet, clarifying that Michigan voters were being sent mail-in voting applications and not absentee ballots.

After declining to go into specifics about the federal funding that would be withheld from the state, McEnany said that Trump’s tweets were meant to “alert” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and OMB Director Russell Vought about his concerns of “a lot of fraud that is potentially at play” regarding mail-in voting. There’s no evidence that mail-in voting is ripe for fraud.

McEnany then deferred to the Trump campaign when it comes to the “illegality and legality” of withholding federal funds over the key swing state’s voting practices.

After telling reporters Trump supports mail-in voting — which he did during Florida’s primary election in March — “for a reason,” McEnany repeatedly declined to specify what exactly was illegal about the Michigan secretary of state’s efforts. She referred the questions to the Trump campaign.

Shortly after the briefing ended, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh defended the President’s tweets.

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