Ari Fleischer: Trump should not 'mess with' idea of delaying an election

“No American politician should mess with the idea, especially the president, of delaying an American election,” former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told “America’s Newsroom” on Thursday.

Fleischer, a Fox News contributor, made the comment reacting to a tweet from President Trump on Thursday where he floated the possibility of delaying November’s general election, in a fiery new warning about the implications of mail-in ballots.

In a tweet in which he claimed that the practice on a "universal" scale would lead to “the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” Trump suggested: “Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

The president’s tweet comes 96 days before the Nov. 3 election, and with early voting in some states starting in just two months. It also comes as the coronavirus pandemic continues unabated, with new cases of the virus spiking in many states.

“If I were POTUS, I would quickly delete this tweet,” Fleischer wrote in a series of tweets on Thursday reacting to Trump’s suggestion, which he called a “harmful idea.”

In another tweet he wrote, “This is not an idea anyone, especially POTUS, should float. Our democracy is based on elections in which everyone knows the rules and they apply to all. Election Day is and will be Nov 3, 2020.”

“Mr. President - please don’t even pretend to mess with this. It’s a harmful idea,” he continued.

Speaking on “America’s Newsroom” on Thursday, Fleischer elaborated, saying he thinks the president “did it to draw attention to the fact that mail-in voting, especially if states have never done it before, …. [is] going to overwhelm the states and it’s going to lead to questions about the integrity of the election in November.”

“So I suspect that’s what the president wanted to point out,” Fleischer continued.

He went on to say that if he were President Trump he would “either delete the tweet or go to a new tweet and say Election Day will of course be November 3rd, but the integrity will be in question if states don't have a good history of doing these things.”

“That's a valid point and he’d be well advised to make that point, but no American politician should mess with the idea, especially the president, of delaying an American election,” Fleischer said.

TRUMP SUGGESTS DELAYING ELECTION, WARNS MAIL-IN BALLOTS TO RESULT IN 'INNACCURATE & FRAUDULENT' VOTE

“It throws everything into question and doubt and it takes the eye off of the problem, which is states not having practice or history with all-mail voting, switching to it at this late date.”

For months, the president has railed against efforts by Democrats and some Republicans to allow more people to vote by mail in the general election due to coronavirus health concerns. His reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee earlier this year launched a multimillion-dollar legal push to squash moves by Democrats to expand ballot access.

Democrats, pushing back against the claims by Trump and the GOP, say that cases of actual voter fraud are limited and claim that Republicans are trying to suppress voter turnout to improve their chances of winning elections.

A local reporter in Kentucky tweeted on Thursday that he spoke with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the phone and McConnell said that the “election date is set in stone,” citing “past crises taking place during an election.”

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Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser and Jacqui Heinrich contributed to this report.