President Donald Trump on Wednesday injected new chaos into the frenzied and unprecedented 2020 election process by urging the California Republican party to “fight hard” after GOP officials were caught installing dozens of fake ballot drop boxes that state officials say are illegal.
Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday to encourage chaos by urging the California Republican Party to “fight on” in its move to collect ballots in fake “drop boxes’’ around the state, in defiance of legal threats of prosecution from state officials.
“Fight hard Republicans. They have been taking advantage of the system for years!” Trump wrote
Trump’s comments come a day after top California officials sent the state party a cease-and-desist notice, ordering them to remove the fake ballot drop boxes.
The president’s support of the fake drop boxes has embolden defiant state GOP officials who arerefusing to remove the boxes.
The appearance of the boxes prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to accuse California Republicans of being “willing to lie, cheat and threaten our democracy all for the sake of gaining power.”
The two major parties feud over election rules during the pandemic in California, where the state’s 21.2 million voters already have received their ballots by mail.
Trump, in a Tuesday tweet, wrote, “You mean only Democrats are allowed to do this? But haven’t the Dems been doing this for years? See you in court. Fight hard Republicans!”
Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Attorney General Xavier Becerra, both Democrats, have warned Republicans that if they do not remove their boxes by Thursday, they will face prosecution.
They demanded GOP campaign officials stop using private containers marked as “official” drop-boxes, saying official boxes are subject to state security standards and can only be installed by county registrars.
But the California Republican Party on Monday asserted that it would continue to rely on the boxes, potentially setting up a legal battle with state officials — as Trump alluded to in his Tuesday tweet.
Fight hard Republicans. They have been taking advantage of the system for years! https://t.co/vaToeGjrHG
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2020
