Trump seen voting by mail in newly re-surfaced Access Hollywood video

‘At least you can say, the Trumpster doesn’t give up’

An Access Hollywood video clip from 2004 has reemerged showing President Donald Trump voting by mail, despite recently claiming it leads to fraud.

In the segment that was filmed the day of the 2004 presidential election, Mr Trump was driven around New York City with host Billy Bush, while he attempted to cast his ballot.

Mr Trump tried to vote at three different polling centres on that day, but was turned away from them all because because of an address mix-up on the forms submitted by his son, Donald Trump Jr, according to Law & Crime.

Mr Trump became visibly annoyed as the day went on, and after being turned away at a third polling station, he looked at the camera and said: “Well, I’m gonna fill out the absentee ballot”.

The segment then cut to Mr Trump and Mr Bush sitting in the limousine that transported them through the city that day, as Mr Trump filled out the form.

After he filled it out he said: “And I’ve just voted,” before he held the absentee ballot up to the camera and added: “At least you can say, the Trumpster doesn’t give up right? You’ve got to vote.”

After months of criticising mail-in voting, the president told Chris Wallace of Fox News last week that he might not accept a losing result in November’s presidential election, because “mail-in voting is going to rig” it.

The week prior, Mr Trump also tweeted without proof: ”Mail-In Ballot fraud found in many elections. People are just now seeing how bad, dishonest and slow it is.

“Election results could be delayed for months. No more big election night answers? 1 per cent not even counted in 2016. Ridiculous!”

In a further tweet, he added: “Just a formula for RIGGING an Election. Absentee Ballots are fine because you have to go through a precise process to get your voting privilege. Not so with Mail-Ins. Rigged Election!!! 20 per cent fraudulent ballots?”

Although the president attempted to make a distinction between absentee and mail-in voting in his post on Twitter, CNN reported that they are essentially the same thing.

David Becker, founder of the nonpartisan Centre for Election Innovation and Research said: “You request a ballot, you get a ballot, you vote, you send it in, and there are protections in place.

“It doesn’t matter whether you call it mail voting or absentee voting. It’s the same thing.”

Mr Trump has repeatedly spoken publicly against people being able to vote by mail in this year’s presidential election and has claimed without evidence that it will cause a large increase in voting fraud.

In May, the president falsely claimed that mail-in voting will enable “thousands of forgeries,” despite voting by mail in Florida himself in March for the Republican primary.

Officials from both the Democratic and Republican parties have called for voting by mail to be implemented for November’s presidential election, due to logistical concerns around the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

However, in May the president tweeted: “The United States cannot have all Mail In Ballots. It will be the greatest Rigged Election in history.”

He then added, without citing any evidence, that “people grab them from mailboxes, print thousands of forgeries and ‘force’ people to sign. Also, forge names.”