Trump says in-person voting will be safe
President Trump seemed to suggest Thursday evening that he is open to additional funding for the U.S. Postal Service, although earlier in the day he had indicated he opposed it because it would aid in expanding voting by mail, which he opposes.
Asked at a news conference about whether he'd veto legislation including additional funding, Mr. Trump replied, "No, not at all." However, in response to a follow-up question, he said, "a separate thing, I would do it." He pressed for in-person voting and conceded that voters are "gonna have to feel safe." Mr. Trump said, "They will be safe, and we will make sure they're safe. We're not gonna have to spend $3.5 billion to do it."
And he went on to repeat a contention he has never backed up, that "one of the reasons the post office needs that much money is to have all of these millions of ballots coming in from nowhere."
Mr. Trump also leveled an attack at opponent Joe Biden, who called on governors to implement a three-month mandatory mask policy in their states to arrest the spread of the coronavirus, which is continuing to surge in many states. Over 165,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. so far.
"While Joe Biden would allow rioters and looters and criminals and millions of illegal aliens to roam free in our country, he wants the federal government to issue a sweeping new mandate to law-abiding citizens," Mr. Trump said. "He wants the president of the United States, with the mere stroke of a pen, to order over 300 million American citizens to wear a mask for a minimum of three straight months, because...he thinks it's good politics, I guess, no matter where they live, and no matter their surroundings."
Mr. Trump and his top advisers on Thursday morning announced an agreement to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The president said he hopes an agreement will be signed at the White House in the coming weeks.