Former Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s campaign observers are “not being allowed to check” whether ballots in Nevada are all legal or not.
“Ballots are not automatically legal votes until they’re checked. We are not being allowed to check,” Grenell, who is representing the Trump campaign, told reporters at an impromptu news conference in North Las Vegas.
“The Harry Reid machine recklessly threw ballots into the mail and now we cannot check whether or not there are non-residents, which we have evidence, publicly available evidence, that you all in the media should be also looking at … that non-residents have voted,” Grenell claimed, citing Reid, the former Democratic Senate Majority Leader who represented Nevada during his political career. (RELATED: Trump Campaign Sues Pennsylvania To Halt Counting Of Mail-In Ballots, Prematurely Claims Victory)
Grenell claimed that the proof that “non-residents have voted” is “publicly available” and that people in Nevada should not be voting if they have not resided in the state for at least 30 days. He said journalists “have a responsibility” to ensure that only legal voters are submitting ballots in the presidential election.
“The fact is we’re filing this federal lawsuit to protect legal voters. It is unacceptable in this country to have illegal votes counted and that is what’s happening in the state of Nevada.”
The Trump campaign announced Thursday that it had filed lawsuits in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania to stop mail-in ballot counting until campaign scrutineers are allowed to observe the the process and inspect those ballots previously opened and counted.
The campaign is expected to ask for a similar injunction in Nevada.
Grenell said the Trump campaign had sought answers from Clark County, Nevada officials but had received “no answers … That is unacceptable and it’s giving legal people a sense that the system is corrupt. We have to have a system where legal votes are cast.”
Referring again to “the Harry Reid machine,” Grenell claimed that Democratic operatives have “recklessly” distributed ballots throughout Clark County and officials “continue to count these illegal votes … That’s what we’re talking about. It is unacceptable in this country.” (RELATED: Rudy Giuliani Promises To ‘Expose The Corruption Of The Democratic Party In Pennsylvania ‘Voter Fraud’)
President Donald Trump speaks on election night in the East Room of the White House in the early morning hours of Nov. 04, 2020 in Washington, DC. Trump spoke shortly after 2am with the presidential race against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden still too close to call. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
State officials have countered claims of voting irregularities and fraud by saying they are processing ballots in a careful and conscientious manner.