Himes: “The President Lied”

A July 16 presidential address on elections was “arguably the biggest collection of lies on one of the most sensitive topics that we have in our democracy,” said Congressman Jim Himes, speaking to reporters on Friday morning.

“He started by saying that our elections were corrupt,” said the congressman. “They are not. Our elections are safe and secure.”

Mr. Himes, the ranking House Intelligence Committee member, said “the intelligence community is 100 percent behind the notion that no foreign power has ever interfered in our elections.”

He added that the president’s “key contention that lots of foreigners are voting in our elections is an easily disprovable point,” including by research done by conservative think tanks.

Mr. Himes drew a distinction between election interference and attempts to influence elections.

He said “interference is when you go into the machines or alter the totals … anything that would actually change the mechanics or the process or the result of a vote. And there is zero evidence of that.”

However, “lots of countries try to influence our elections,” said Mr. Himes, who provided an unclassified Intelligence Community Assessment that details foreign propaganda and misinformation campaigns in the 2020 election. The document can be viewed and downloaded here.

Why the Lie?

Mr. Himes posed a rhetorical question: “Why would the president do all this? Why would he lie? Why would he denigrate confidence in our elections?”

Of possible answers, Rep. Himes said the “most ominous” is that the president’s speech was intended to lay the groundwork to interfere with this year’s midterm election.

Mr. Himes said the president knows his poll numbers are terrible and that he is likely to lose the House in November and possibly the Senate as well.

The congressman said he could imagine a number of scenarios on Election Day where the president could claim foreign interference or that thousands of foreigners have voted, order Homeland Security to seize voting machines, and “end our democracy.”

“With this president, absolutely nothing is off the table,” said Mr. Himes. “And what he said last night was designed to be the thing that he can point to on election day so he can say, ‘I warned the American people.’”

Mail-ins

Rep. Himes added that the president also disparaged mail-in ballots, despite having voted by mail himself, and that “there is zero proof that using mail-in ballots has led to a corruption of an election.”

Mr. Himes said if there were to be an effort by the president to interfere in the election it more likely would occur in areas where “state leadership can be compromised.”

But he encouraged citizens in Connecticut to cast ballots as early as possible, especially if voting by mail, given the apparent potential of delays by the Postal Service postmarking and delivering ballots.

“I’m on the lookout for skullduggery, having been in the capital on January 6^th,” said Mr. Himes.

The Supreme Court recently ruled that ballots received after Election Day can be counted, but that only applies in states where it is permitted by law. Connecticut is not one of them.

14 days of early voting for the November 3 general election will begin on October 19. The portal to apply for a mail-in absentee ballot will open on September 19. Applications no longer require an excuse.