Fox host justifies Trump’s call to “delay the election,” over mail-in voting “confusion”
Stuart Varney: “If we have mail-in balloting the way it's scheduled now, there is absolutely no way you will get an election result on election night … That is a mess.”
Published
Citation From the July 30, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Varney & Co.
STUART VARNEY (HOST): That tweet from President Trump came out about 20, 30 minutes ago, really riling the markets and roiling politics. Pay attention to the last sentence, “Delay the election until people can properly, securely and safely vote?” Come in, please, Senator John Barrasso, Republican from Wyoming. Delay the vote? What do you say, Mr. Senator?
SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R-WY): Well, I think we're going to vote on election day and the lead-up to election day. It'll be a secure election, and we will — if I can have anything to do with it, we will reelect Donald Trump president of the United States.
VARNEY: Yeah, hold it. Mr. Senator, I do apologize for interrupting you. But if we have mail-in balloting the way it's scheduled now, there is absolutely no way you will get an election result on election night, or even in the first few days. That means confusion and endless challenges. That is a mess. What do you think? Delay the election?
BARRASSO: No, we're not going to delay the election, Stuart. We're going to have the election completed, and voting completed, by election day. It's going to take awhile to get all the votes counted, I am certain. The — I certainly — we need to, though, continue to do this as we do, state by state. You know, Nancy Pelosi in her bill dealing with coronavirus, wants a complete federal takeover of the election, and we cannot allow that, and I won't allow it.
VARNEY: You can't start counting mail-in ballots until the day of the election. And in some places, you can't start counting until you've checked every mail-in ballot for the right postmark. I mean, it's a mess, Senator.
BARRASSO: Well, there's a lot that's changed because of coronavirus. We have been focused and working on making sure elections are secure. And we will get results, it's going to take awhile, I believe that it will. We may not know on election night the balance of the House of Representatives, or the Senate, or the presidency. But we will not delay the elections.
VARNEY: Well, the presidential tweet has really upset the markets, and that is the story of the morning in finance today.