The acting director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Sunday said he didn't have the authority to send officers to watch polling sites, after President Donald Trump said he would deploy law enforcement to monitor voting in the November election.
This report produced by Zachary Goelman.
U.S. President Donald Trump's top homeland security official said on Sunday that he would not send officers to monitor polling sites during the November election.
Chad Wolf, the acting head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told CNN he lacked Congressional authority to do that.
Those comments come despite Trump telling Fox News last week that law enforcement, from sheriffs to U.S. attorneys, would be deployed to polling stations around the country to prevent fraud.
Social distancing guidelines have spurred surging interest in alternatives to in-person voting, including early voting, voting by mail and using ballot drop-off boxes.
Trump has said repeatedly and without evidence that expanding voters' options will lead to fraud.
On Sunday, Twitter slapped a warning over a Trump tweet the social media site said violated its rules to safeguard "civic and election integrity." The tweet, which readers can still see if they click the warning, reads, "So now the Democrats are using Mail Drop Boxes, which are a voter security disaster." The president's campaign has sued to block efforts to expand mail-in voting and ballot drop-offs.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat, touted California's efforts to mail a ballot to every eligible voter in the state.
"We are making sure that every American in California who can vote will vote.
That is, I think, what a democracy is about.
Why we make it so difficult for Americans to vote - [flash] - I simply don't understand why this president fears this.
It's probably because he knows he's going to lose." Trump has also claimed that foreign U.S. adversaries, such as Russia and China, were planning to forge mail-in ballots to undermine the U.S. election.
On Sunday, Wolf told CNN he'd seen no evidence of that.