Chris Cuomo blasted Attorney General Bill Barr on Wednesday, accusing him of acting as a pawn for President Donald Trump and “playing dumb” about the legality of voting twice.
It’s illegal to vote more than once in an election, but that didn’t stop Trump from suggesting on Wednesday that voters in North Carolina test their state’s election system by voting once by mail and a second time in person.
When asked about this comment in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Barr tried to explain away Trump’s suggestion and declined to say it was illegal, claiming not to know the specific law in North Carolina.
“You’re not allowed to vote twice. Like you need me to tell you that,” Cuomo said on Wednesday night. “Can you believe the attorney general of the United States is playing dumb about something like that? And why? Just to help his boy. Because he’s a trumpet. He’s a pawn.”
“Bill Barr knows exactly what Trump is saying and what he’s trying to do, and the president said it in a state that’s going to mail ballots to voters in just two days. Coincidence?” the CNN anchor asked.
Cuomo also slammed Barr for stoking Trump’s baseless claims about mail-in ballots.
“Barr argues voting by mail is reckless and dangerous. Proof? None,” Cuomo said.
A number of states have moved to expand mail-in voting amid safety concerns about in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has repeatedly attacked the process, claiming without evidence that it leads to voter fraud in an effort to sow doubt about the integrity of the November election. His administration has sued states that are working to expand mail-in voting and blocked funding for the cash-strapped Postal Service.
Cuomo said forcing Americans to vote in person during a health crisis was the very the definition of recklessness.
″What about the dangers of voting in person in a pandemic?” he asked. “In places it will be risky to vote in person. So your state should have an option for you to do it another way. What’s wrong with that? Our mail can’t handle it? Well, maybe if they stopped sabotaging the mail service that would help.”
- What should you still be disinfecting to prevent COVID-19?
- Is it possible you had coronavirus earlier this year?
- How can you manage your anxiety as coronavirus restrictions lift?
- Here’s the latest on how long COVID-19 antibodies last.
- How will COVID-19 change your office?
- Laid off and lost your health insurance? You have options.
- Everything you need to know about face masks right now.
- Find all our coronavirus coverage here.