'You're going to jail!' Trump threatens overseas voters in angry Truth Social post
Former President Donald Trump accused Democrats of cheating in the presidential election because they encouraged Americans serving overseas to vote.
Trump claimed without evidence Monday that outreach to active members of the Uniformed Services abroad represented a cover-up plot to sneak foreign voters into the 2024 presidential election.
"The Democrats are talking about how they’re working so hard to get millions of votes from Americans living overseas," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Actually, they are getting ready to CHEAT!"
Trump claimed Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign was planning to manipulate the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, enacted in 1986 to validate absentee ballots submitted by the Uniformed Services, the Merchant Marines, Public Health Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration corps members and U.S. citizens living abroad.
About 2.9 million eligible American voters live abroad and more than 1.2 million submitted ballots under the act in 2020, according to the Oversees Vote Foundation, a nonpartisan nonprofit that helps U.S. citizens in foreign countries to submit ballots.
"To be sure, federal national security agencies – including former President Trump’s appointees – have assured the public that 2020 was the most secure election to date," the nonprofit's explainer notes. "Yet 'stop the steal' rhetoric and voter fraud claims persist."
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The former president claimed Monday the ballots were sent out via emails that were not subjected to any citizenship or identity check.
Voters who register are asked to include their social security numbers and state identification numbers.
"They want to dilute the TRUE vote of our beautiful military and their families, who Comrade Kamala has totally disrespected and abandoned," Trump wrote. "IF YOU VOTE ILLEGALLY, YOU’RE GOING TO JAIL."
Trump echoed claims of election interference after he lost to President Joe Biden in 2020. He now faces criminal charges in Washington D.C. federal court and Georgia state court linked to those claims.
The former president pleaded not guilty in both.
Trump earlier this year was found guilty of falsifying business records ahead of the 2016 presidential election to cover up hush money paid to Stormy Daniels, the adult film star whose salacious stories he feared would torpedo his campaign.