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Press Briefing by Kayleigh McEnany; May 20, 2020
You have questions, but we don't have answers.
PRESS BRIEFINGS
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany
Issued on: May 20, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
3:35 P.M. EDT
MS. MCENANY: Good afternoon, everyone. I’d like to begin by detailing the historic private-public partnership effort launched by the Trump administration to combat the coronavirus. As both a businessman and as President, you’ll all remember then-candidate Donald Trump, now President Donald Trump, being adamant about bringing manufacturing jobs back to America.
{snip}
And finally, before I take questions, I just wanted to note on a separate note that I wanted to acknowledge the passing of Ravi Zacharias, a renowned Christian apologist who left this world yesterday. Our prayers are with Ravi’s family during this time. He meant a lot to a lot of people around this administration. And as my father said, Billy Graham was the great evangelist and Ravi Zacharias was the great apologist. And we are all thinking about him and holding him close to our hearts and his family today.
And with that, I’ll take questions. John.
Q Kayleigh, what does the President believe is illegal about the Secretary of State of Michigan sending out absentee ballot applications? And what federal funding is he considering withholding from the state of Michigan as a result?
MS. MCENANY: So, you know, I won’t get into exactly what the funding considerations are. I would note that his tweets were meant to alert Secretary Mnuchin and Mr. Vought about — head of OMB — about his concerns with trillions of dollars going to these states and his noted concerns about a lot of fraud that is potentially at play when you have mass mail-in voting.
So with regard to the illegality and legality of it, that’s a question for the campaign as to their voting and ballot practices. But I would just note that his tweet was meant to alert OMB. He wanted to be very careful, as we send trillions of dollars to states, that we keep this important point in mind and we ensure that there’s fairness in our voting system and absolute accuracy.
Yes. Kaitlan.
Q But the President himself has voted, just two months ago, via a mail-in ballot. There are several Republican states that are also doing these mail-in applications for ballots. And so I’m confused, what is it that he thinks is illegal that’s happening in Michigan? He doesn’t really specify.
MS. MCENANY: So, first, with regard to the President doing a mail-in vote, the President is, after all, the President, which means he’s here in Washington; he’s unable to cast his vote down in Florida, his state of residence. So, for him, that’s why he had to do a mail-in vote. But he supports mail-in voting for a reason, when you have a reason that you are unable to be present.
Q But there’s a pandemic going on.
MS. MCENANY: There’s — right now. We’re very far from November 3rd. I would —
Q But there’s a primary coming up in June.
MS. MCENANY: I’m glad that you have the prediction tool and you can tell us what will be happening on November 3rd, 2020. I certainly don’t, nor does the President.
Q I’m just saying because there’s primaries coming up, and that’s like what’s happening in Nevada and whatnot.
MS. MCENANY: I would — I would also — I assume you care about fairness and accuracy in our elections. Do you not?
Q Of course I do.
MS. MCENANY: Of course.
Q But there’s not evidence that there’s widespread voter fraud from mail-in votes.
MS. MCENANY: So, there — so, there’s evidence. You can go look this up on ProPublica. There was a bipartisan consensus on the fact that mass mail-in voting can lead to fraud. There was a 2005 commission by none other than President Carter, who’s not a member of the Republican Party, and also James Baker about this, concluding that these ballots, quote, “remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.”
So this is a concern. The President is right to look at this. We want a free and fair election, and that’s his concern.
Yes, Zeke.
Q Kayleigh, on this subject and one other on a different one: The President deleted his first tweet, which alleged falsely that the state of Michigan was sending out absentee ballots to every voter. In fact, they sent out absentee ballot requests. Was the President misinformed this morning? And why is he only directing this message toward Michigan and not other states like Georgia and others that are sending similar absentee ballot requests to their citizens?
MS. MCENANY: So the President corrected his tweet, as you noted.
And with regard to going state by state and looking at ballots in the way they’re distributed, that would be a question for the Trump campaign, and I’d refer you to the campaign on that point.
{snip}
Q Kayleigh, can you tell us what law, specifically, the President thinks the Secretary of State in Michigan broke by sending out the applications? And did the Secretary of State in Georgia also break that law by sending out applications for their primary?
MS. MCENANY: Again, I’d reference you to the campaign. These are ballot questions, and I reference you to the campaign on that.
Q But he is the President and you’re his spokesperson.
MS. MCENANY: That’s my former employer. My current employer is the White House. So, thank you.
Q Yes, but —
MS. MCENANY: Yes?
Q But that’s not a campaign question. That’s the President of the United States saying that a state broke the law.
MS. MCENANY: It’s a campaign question on ballot initiatives —
Q It’s not.
MS. MCENANY: — that you have and absentee ballots. So I would refer you to the campaign on that front.
And I would note to you that many of those ballots that are submitted via mail can be fraudulent. I cited to you the bipartisan study. I can read it again. Maybe you weren’t paying attention when I read it the first time, so I’ll read it again: President Carter — a Democrat, not a Republican — and James Baker concluded that these ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud. So if you cast a ballot via mail and you do so fraudulently, that would be an illegal act. And I’d point you to that. And for further, I’d point you to my former employer, which is the Trump campaign.
Q Is the President concerned about fraud in Georgia?
MS. MCENANY: Any other questions? Yes, sir.
{snip}
END
4:01 P.M. EDT
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany
Issued on: May 20, 2020
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
3:35 P.M. EDT
MS. MCENANY: Good afternoon, everyone. I’d like to begin by detailing the historic private-public partnership effort launched by the Trump administration to combat the coronavirus. As both a businessman and as President, you’ll all remember then-candidate Donald Trump, now President Donald Trump, being adamant about bringing manufacturing jobs back to America.
{snip}
And finally, before I take questions, I just wanted to note on a separate note that I wanted to acknowledge the passing of Ravi Zacharias, a renowned Christian apologist who left this world yesterday. Our prayers are with Ravi’s family during this time. He meant a lot to a lot of people around this administration. And as my father said, Billy Graham was the great evangelist and Ravi Zacharias was the great apologist. And we are all thinking about him and holding him close to our hearts and his family today.
And with that, I’ll take questions. John.
Q Kayleigh, what does the President believe is illegal about the Secretary of State of Michigan sending out absentee ballot applications? And what federal funding is he considering withholding from the state of Michigan as a result?
MS. MCENANY: So, you know, I won’t get into exactly what the funding considerations are. I would note that his tweets were meant to alert Secretary Mnuchin and Mr. Vought about — head of OMB — about his concerns with trillions of dollars going to these states and his noted concerns about a lot of fraud that is potentially at play when you have mass mail-in voting.
So with regard to the illegality and legality of it, that’s a question for the campaign as to their voting and ballot practices. But I would just note that his tweet was meant to alert OMB. He wanted to be very careful, as we send trillions of dollars to states, that we keep this important point in mind and we ensure that there’s fairness in our voting system and absolute accuracy.
Yes. Kaitlan.
Q But the President himself has voted, just two months ago, via a mail-in ballot. There are several Republican states that are also doing these mail-in applications for ballots. And so I’m confused, what is it that he thinks is illegal that’s happening in Michigan? He doesn’t really specify.
MS. MCENANY: So, first, with regard to the President doing a mail-in vote, the President is, after all, the President, which means he’s here in Washington; he’s unable to cast his vote down in Florida, his state of residence. So, for him, that’s why he had to do a mail-in vote. But he supports mail-in voting for a reason, when you have a reason that you are unable to be present.
Q But there’s a pandemic going on.
MS. MCENANY: There’s — right now. We’re very far from November 3rd. I would —
Q But there’s a primary coming up in June.
MS. MCENANY: I’m glad that you have the prediction tool and you can tell us what will be happening on November 3rd, 2020. I certainly don’t, nor does the President.
Q I’m just saying because there’s primaries coming up, and that’s like what’s happening in Nevada and whatnot.
MS. MCENANY: I would — I would also — I assume you care about fairness and accuracy in our elections. Do you not?
Q Of course I do.
MS. MCENANY: Of course.
Q But there’s not evidence that there’s widespread voter fraud from mail-in votes.
MS. MCENANY: So, there — so, there’s evidence. You can go look this up on ProPublica. There was a bipartisan consensus on the fact that mass mail-in voting can lead to fraud. There was a 2005 commission by none other than President Carter, who’s not a member of the Republican Party, and also James Baker about this, concluding that these ballots, quote, “remain the largest source of potential voter fraud.”
So this is a concern. The President is right to look at this. We want a free and fair election, and that’s his concern.
Yes, Zeke.
Q Kayleigh, on this subject and one other on a different one: The President deleted his first tweet, which alleged falsely that the state of Michigan was sending out absentee ballots to every voter. In fact, they sent out absentee ballot requests. Was the President misinformed this morning? And why is he only directing this message toward Michigan and not other states like Georgia and others that are sending similar absentee ballot requests to their citizens?
MS. MCENANY: So the President corrected his tweet, as you noted.
And with regard to going state by state and looking at ballots in the way they’re distributed, that would be a question for the Trump campaign, and I’d refer you to the campaign on that point.
{snip}
Q Kayleigh, can you tell us what law, specifically, the President thinks the Secretary of State in Michigan broke by sending out the applications? And did the Secretary of State in Georgia also break that law by sending out applications for their primary?
MS. MCENANY: Again, I’d reference you to the campaign. These are ballot questions, and I reference you to the campaign on that.
Q But he is the President and you’re his spokesperson.
MS. MCENANY: That’s my former employer. My current employer is the White House. So, thank you.
Q Yes, but —
MS. MCENANY: Yes?
Q But that’s not a campaign question. That’s the President of the United States saying that a state broke the law.
MS. MCENANY: It’s a campaign question on ballot initiatives —
Q It’s not.
MS. MCENANY: — that you have and absentee ballots. So I would refer you to the campaign on that front.
And I would note to you that many of those ballots that are submitted via mail can be fraudulent. I cited to you the bipartisan study. I can read it again. Maybe you weren’t paying attention when I read it the first time, so I’ll read it again: President Carter — a Democrat, not a Republican — and James Baker concluded that these ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud. So if you cast a ballot via mail and you do so fraudulently, that would be an illegal act. And I’d point you to that. And for further, I’d point you to my former employer, which is the Trump campaign.
Q Is the President concerned about fraud in Georgia?
MS. MCENANY: Any other questions? Yes, sir.
{snip}
END
4:01 P.M. EDT
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