Mail-in ballots cast for Trump found TRASHED in swing-state Pennsylvania as Federal prosecutor launches investigation
MAIL-in ballots cast for Donald Trump were found trashed in swing-state Pennsylvania - sparking a Federal prosecutor to launch an investigation on Thursday.
Attorney David Freed said his office and the were contacted on Monday amid concerns about "potential issues with a small number of mail-in ballots at the Luzerne County Board of Elections."
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The Department of Justice has now ordered the state's county to change its ballot practices, according to .
"'It is the vital duty of government to ensure that every properly cast vote is counted," the DOJ said.
Freed confirmed that a "small number of military ballots," including seven for , were thrown out.
"Of the nine ballots that were discarded and then recovered, seven were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump," he said.
"Two of the discarded ballots had been resealed inside their appropriate envelopes by Luzerne elections staff prior to recovery by the FBI and the contents of those two ballots are unknown."
However, in an earlier statement, Freed's office had originally claimed all nine ballots had been cast for Trump.
The comments were abruptly removed later in the day on Thursday, and a revised statement was issued.
Dawn Clark, a spokeswoman for Freed's office, said the ballots "were improperly opened" by county staff.
Freed said in his statement that his office's inquiry "remains ongoing."
Following the news, Trump : "Cheating on Unsolicited Ballots by political hacks, or anyone else, is against the law. We are closely watching!"
The news about the investigation in , a state Trump carried in 2016 by 44,000 votes, could add fuel to Trump's efforts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the upcoming election.
He has often asserted that widespread mail-in voting will lead to fraud.
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, meanwhile, have encouraged voting by mail so that can safely vote during the pandemic.
Speaking at on Thursday, Trump said there had been ballots with his name on them found in a waste-paper basket.
"We want to make sure the election is honest and I'm not sure that it can be. I don't know that it can be with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots," Trump said.