Trump’s press secretary votes exclusively by mail despite promoting conspiracy theories about fraud, report says

President and his inner circle continue promoting baseless voter fraud claims while casting ballots by mail themselves

Donald Trump’s White House press secretary has voted exclusively by mail throughout every single election she cast a ballot in since 2010, according to a new report, despite her continued claims of rampant voter fraud.

Kayleigh McEnany has promoted and defended various allegations of mail-in voter fraud in recent weeks, as the president attacked states for expanding vote-by-mail options amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A new report published by Tampa Bay Times found that Ms McEnany, 32, voted by mail a total of 11 times over the last 10 years, including in the 2020 presidential primary.

The president himself has frequently voted by mail both in Florida, where his permanent residence is currently located, and his former hometown of New York.

Yet he and Ms McEnany have alleged states like Michigan — which narrowly went to Mr Trump in 2016 and helped him secure the White House — were expanding mail-in voting options without legal authority.

Such claims have no basis in fact, according to legal experts. In fact, Florida — where both the president and his press secretary have voted — allows residents to vote by mail without providing a reason. Absentee ballots, which allow residents in states to vote if they are not able to cast a ballot in-person, is not required in Florida because voters can simply vote by mail.

The president has not mentioned the fact that many Republican states also expanded voting by mail due to the coronavirus, and that many states already have absentee ballots and other options available.

Ms McEnany defended Mr Trump amid revelations he voted by mail as he was attacking the process in frequent posts to his Twitter page, saying at a press conference last week: “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.”

After the Tampa Bay Times published its story on Wednesday, Ms McEnany provided the following statement: “Absentee voting has the word absent in it for a reason. It means you’re absent from the jurisdiction or unable to vote in person. President Trump is against the Democrat plan to politicize the coronavirus and expand mass mail-in voting without a reason, which has a high propensity for voter fraud. This is a simple distinction that the media fails to grasp.”

Twitter provided a fact-check on the president’s tweets that falsely claimed “mail boxes will be robbed, ballots will be forged & even illegally printed out & fraudulently signed” due to expanded mail-in options.