Trump backtracks on mail-in voting after false election fraud accusations

President quips he would like to blast reporters into outer space

Donald Trump backtracked a bit more from his feud with Michigan and its Democratic governor on Thursday, saying mail-in voting is acceptable so long as people have "a reason" to cast ballots remotely. But he stuck by his contention that most mailed ballots are fraudulent.

The president shook up the political class – and likely some Michigan residents – on Wednesday after posting a tweet about Michigan's government sending mail-in ballot applications – he initially alleged it sent actual ballots, before deleting and replacing the erroneous tweet. While he and his top spokeswoman, attorney Kayleigh McEnany, were unable to describe any actual crime, Mr Trump claimed the mailings were "done illegally."

He also threatened he might withhold federal aid dollars for the key 2020 battleground state, though he told reporters late Wednesday after he doubted such a step would be necessary. His White House press secretary, attorney Kayleigh McEnany, also was unable to explain during a press briefing what compelled her boss to make the threats.

The president, who needs to keep Michigan in his column to secure a second term, at first appeared to hold firm to his Wednesday stance.

"We don't want anybody to do mail-in voting," he told reporters on the White House's South Lawn before departing for, fittingly, Michigan, where he will tour a Ford facility that is producing items to fight the coronavirus.

"If there's a reason for it, that's okay," he said of people who vote by mail. "We don't want to take any chances with fraud in our elections."

He again did not provide a single piece of evidence showing the remote voting applications the Michigan state government mailed to over 7m residents were illegal.

Governors in GOP strongholds like Utah have done the same thing. Mr Trump has been silent about those applications, however.

Meantime, Mr Trump's latest "Chopper Talk" session beside Marine One ended with a rare bit of levity.

The president told reporters he might travel to NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Wednesday to watch a SpaceX rocket take NASA astronauts into outer space.

"I'd like to put you in the rocket," he said with a wry grin, "and get rid of you for a while."

The scheduled launch, if successful, would mark two milestones: The first time US astronauts have gone to space in a private craft; and the first time any American astronaut has gone into space since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.