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A new whistleblower report warns that the U.S. Postal Service could 'derail' the midterm election if it continues rolling out 'untested' technology amid President Trump's efforts to restrict mail-in voting.
Simon Marks updates James O'Brien with the latest.
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0:00
Continuing a theme there that underpinned much of my conversation with Luke Harding
0:04
the author of the new book, Betrayal, Trump, Putin and the New Age of Conquest, something no doubt on Simon Marks' reading list
0:09
Absolutely. Continuing that theme, the stuff that happens that's huge, and we don't properly note at the time just how huge it is
0:16
because it's the US Postal Service that you're here to draw our attention to. Yeah, very much so, James
0:21
And efforts by Donald Trump, undoubtedly in plain sight, to engage in yet more jiggery-pokery
0:29
that is absolutely designed to suppress the turnout in this year's midterm elections now just two months away
0:37
A whistleblower has warned Congress that the Post Office, under the leadership
0:43
of Donald Trump's hand-picked head of the United States Postal Service, is forging ahead with plans
0:52
that could lead millions of mail-in ballots to be either invalidated or not even sent out in the first place
1:02
This relates to an executive order that Donald Trump signed earlier in the second term of his presidency
1:08
that says every single person who gets a postal vote in America elections has first to prove that they are an American citizen And in order to do that states all over the country must provide the post office with their
1:26
voter manifests so that the post office can be certain that every single voter that it
1:31
is sending a postal vote to is an American citizen. Federal courts have so far blocked that executive order and have told the post office absolutely
1:41
not to go ahead with preparations to implement any changes to the way in which postal voting
1:47
works in the United States. David Steiner, President Trump's hand-picked man atop the USPS
1:54
has nonetheless, according to this whistleblower, moved forward with what is described as a rushed
1:59
chaotic ballot tracking system, eliminating standard and needed testing, and therefore creating what the whistleblower told members of Congress is a substantial risk of catastrophic
2:12
failure of the system that could derail the midterm elections. And to put this into perspective
2:18
in 2024, one in three voters in America in the presidential elections cast their ballots by post
2:27
So this has the real capacity between now and November 3rd, election day in the United States
2:34
to upend things and is fresh evidence of Donald Trump determination to disrupt the system To disrupt the system but how can he be confident that this would aid him given that there be no control over which votes get next and which votes don
2:47
So he can be confident that this will aid him because it provides him with fresh grist for the
2:54
mill to argue that the elections were either not run in accordance with his own rulings via
3:02
executive law or in some parts of the country, for instance, states didn't take advantage of the
3:08
Supreme Court's permission that has been granted to them to gerrymander their districts, redraw
3:13
congressional boundaries. If you were the president of the United States, and let's remember, he is
3:18
demonstrating absolutely no particular concern or even interest in the midterm elections. The bloke
3:24
who spent all weekend publishing fake AI videos that either showed a group of Canada geese
3:30
patrolling the shores of Lake Michigan with assault rifles or an entirely fictitious concocted video
3:39
that purported to show an attack on Khark Island in Iran that did not happen
3:43
This is a president who's doing absolutely nothing to address the concerns of Americans 60 days out from midterm elections
3:51
but who continues absolutely to indicate that he is ready to fight the outcome of those elections unless Republicans win them and they evidently are not in a free and fair contest going to do that So this is not an attempt to rig the vote it is an attempt to prepare the ground for claims that the vote was rigged
4:09
100%, preparing the way for it. It's amazing. Well, it is and it isn't, isn't it
4:14
I mean, there it is. Our postal service obviously disputing these allegations
4:18
but that whistleblower has some guts. Yeah, and now, of course, Congress has to decide what to do about it
4:24
Democrats have got the bit between their teeth, but Republicans clearly will not want to advance these investigations with any degree of alacrity
4:30
So, I mean, he can whine and moan and lie. In fact, it would be a unique day if he didn't wake up one morning and did none of those things
4:40
But, I mean, the presidential election is the one we worried about most, that he might refuse to accept the results of the presidential election, which, of course, he did
4:50
But, I mean, what's the worst that could happen in the context of a challenge to the mid-term
4:55
Months and months of litigation and the President of the United States going to the mat and saying
5:01
I do not believe the new Congress should be allowed to sit as the Constitution calls for
5:08
You're looking at the real possibility of constitutional febrile, dangerous confrontation. Yeah, you are. Thank you for explaining that so clearly
5:17
and bringing us in almost on time, which is my fault, not yours
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