'The President is afraid of the American people': Pelosi says Trump is trying to rig election by undermining USPS because he knows he can't win

President has been transparent that he does not want to fund the postal service because he believes it will lead to more voters casting ballots by mail

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has accused Donald Trump of trying to undermine the 2020 US presidential election by sabotaging the US Postal Service, an essential agency for states looking to expand mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"The president is afraid of the American people. He knows that on the legit, it will be hard for him to win," Ms Pelosi told reporters on Thursday in response to a question about why she thought Mr Trump was trying to diminish an essential government operation during a pandemic.

"You'd have to ask [Republicans]" why they're toeing Mr Trump's line, Ms Pelosi said.

The president has been transparent that he does not want to fund the postal service because he believes it will lead to more voters casting ballots by mail, which he has said is vulnerable to fraud.

There is virtually no evidence of large-scale fraud on vote-by-mail ballots, although at least one recent GOP congressional primary last cycle was mired in illegal absentee ballot harvesting accusations.

The Democratic-controlled House passed a comprehensive coronavirus relief bill in May that would send $3.6bn to states and localities to help secure their voting operations this fall.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's GOP proposal last month included no such money.

Democrats are also asking for billions of dollars in funding for the USPS to bolster its operations ahead of what is expected to be a busy next few months for the agency as Americans across the country seek to mail in their ballots instead of going to polling places in person in order to avoid possible Covid-19 exposure.

"They need that money in order to make the post office work, so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” Mr Trump said in an interview with Fox Business on Thursday.

“But if they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting, because they’re not equipped to have it," he said.

He added: “Therefore, they can’t do the universal mail-in vote. It’s very simple. How are they going to do it if they don’t have the money to do it?”

Mr Trump's naked opposition to funding for the USPS and election security has riled progressive voting rights groups that have been instrumental in lobbying for funding in Democratic bills.

“Donald Trump is saying the quiet part out loud: His continued efforts to cripple the USPS are a clear attempt to sabotage the election and suppress the vote in the middle of a pandemic," said Sean Eldridge, the president of Stand Up America, a progressive voting rights group.

“If Senate Republicans gave a damn about the future of our democracy, they would demand that the Trump administration return to the negotiating table on a COVID-19 relief bill that protects our elections and funds the Post Office,” Mr Eldridge said.

Mr McConnell has, however, blamed Democrats for stalling negotiations on a fifth coronavirus relief package, saying they have been unwilling to compromise.

Ms Pelosi said Democrats would return to the negotiating table when Republicans agree to budge from their rough $1trn cap on a package. The Democrats would come down about $1trn from their asking price in return.

Mr McConnell said that is an absurd form of negotiating.

"That’s throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. People who have serious policy proposals that are fitted to actual needs cannot breezily knock off a trillion here, and add a trillion there," he said.