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Trump Campaign Demands CNN’s Apology Over Poll, Sends Cease and Desist Letter; and an Investigation is Sparked After Minority Areas in Georgia Election Suffers Long Lines, Lack of Ballots and Voting Machines.
CNN published a poll on Monday that shows Joe Biden well ahead of Trump. As a result, the Trump campaign sent a cease and desist letter to CNN’s President, Jeff Tucker.
The poll, conducted by SSRS, showed Trump trailing behind Biden by 14 points. It also marked the president’s worst approval rating since January 2019. It put him at just 38%.
In the letter to Zucker, the Trump campaign started that the poll was a stunt meant to damper enthusiasm for the president.
“It’s a stunt and a phony poll to cause voter suppression, stifle momentum and enthusiasm for the President, and present a false view generally of the actual support across America for the President,” read the letter.
The demand was immediately rejected by Tucker because it contained numerous misleading and incorrect claims.
“We stand by our poll,” said CNN spokesman Matt Dornic.
CNN’s executive vice president and general counsel, David Vigilante, told the Trump campaign that the “allegations and demands are rejected in their entirety.”
“To my knowledge, this is the first time in its 40-year history that CNN had been threatened with legal action because an American politician or campaign did not like CNN’s polling results,” Vigilante wrote.
“To the extent we have received legal threats from political leaders in the past, they have typically come from countries like Venezuela or other regimes where there is little or no respect for a free and independent media.”
Related: Michelle Obama Teams Up With Tom Hanks, Pushes for Mail-in Voting
On Tuesday, Georgia voters in minority areas found themselves facing “unacceptable” conditions. The conditions included hourslong waits. Not only that, but also a lack of available ballots, and issues with new voting machines.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tweeted about the problem. This happened shortly after the polls were supposed to open. She was very concerned.
“This seems to be happening throughout Atlanta and perhaps throughout the country. People have been in line since before 7:00 am this morning.”
One resident, Cody Cutting, spoke with NBC News about the issue. In the Reynoldstown neighborhood of Atlanta, the line to vote snaked around the block. Some people waited 4 ½ hours to get a chance to cast their vote.
“People are a bit frustrated, but spirits are still OK. Neighbors are bringing around food, water, and chairs,” Cutting said. Some even wished they had the best phone deals so they wouldn’t run out of service while waiting in line.
It is reported that in mostly white Atlanta suburbs, there were far fewer problems.
“There were problems with the voting systems for approximately 25 minutes,” said Brian Takahashi, a voter from Roswell. “Afterwards, it was smooth sailing.”
Takahashi said he was “out of the door” in only 20 minutes after the problem was resolved.
As a result of Georgia’s polling issues, Basketball legend LeBron James weighed in on the matter on Twitter.
“Everyone talking about ‘how do we fix this?’ They say, ‘go out and vote?’ What about asking if how we vote is also structurally racist?”
One way to help resolve polling location issues is by mail-in voting. But, President Donald Trump is against the idea. However, he himself has taken advantage of mail-in votes himself.
Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, has railed against the idea of mail-in voting. However, she has also voted by mail 12 times in 12 years.
They both defended their actions by saying out of state voting is “different.”
“Well, there’s a big difference between somebody that’s out of state and does a ballot and everything’s sealed, certified, and everything else. You see what you have to do with the certifications,” Trump said.
He claimed without evidence that there could otherwise be “thousands of people sitting in somebody’s living room signing ballots.”
“No, I think mail-in voting is a terrible thing,” Trump added. “I think if you vote, you should go.”
However, there is no evidence that mail-in voting encourages fraud.
Related: Long Lines in Georgia Primary Raise Eyebrows for November Voting
