President Donald Trump’s tweets accusing two vital swing states – Nevada and Michigan – of acting “illegally” by making it easier for their residents to vote by mail during the pandemic were just “alerts” meant just for the eyes of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
At least, that’s what White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters just hours after Trump threatened to withhold congressionally-approved federal funds from the two states.
“What does the President believe is ‘illegal’ about the Secretary of State of Michigan sending out absentee ballot applications and what federal funding is he considering withholding from the State of Michigan as a result?” one reporter asked.
“So you know I won’t get into exactly what the funding considerations are, I would note that his tweets are meant to alert Secretary Mnuchin and Mr. Vought, the head of OMB, ah, his concerns with trillions of dollars going to these states and noted concerns about a lot of fraud that is potentially at play when you have mass mail-in voting,” McEnany said, clearly reading from a pre-written statement.
There are not “trillions” of federal funds going to Nevada and Michigan.
When a reporter followed up, McEnany blasted him.
“If he wanted to flag to him his concerns about Michigan why didn’t he just tell him instead of sending a tweet?” another reporter asked.
“The President believes in unprecedented transparency and I’m sure you as a journalist are very eager and excited when you learn about the President’s decision-making process in real time, whether that’s on Twitter or here up at the podium,” she snarled.
She didn’t stop there.
Pressed again, McEnany scolded the reporter, saying he should be praising the President.
“This is a transparent President and I think that’s something you should be lauding rather than questioning as to why he decided to tweet this.”
It’s not the first time McEnany has insisted Americans should be reacting in a way that supports Trump.
Just last week she said Americans “should be celebrating” that President Trump and Vice President Pence are healthy in the face of a pandemic that had at that point killed over 85,000 Americans. (The death toll now is nearly 95,000.)
It’s unclear why the President, according to his press secretary, thinks those tweets are seen only by Mnuchin and Vought, especially when he deleted the tweet twice over spelling and accuracy issues, then posted it again, still falsely accusing the state of acting illegally.