Fox News Anchor Baselessly Warns About ‘Gangs’ Stealing Mail-In Ballots From USPS Boxes
“I read some of these things about gangs that lie in wait at these blue post-office boxes and go and they grab them and they are very good at this kind of stuff.”
Fox News “hard news” anchor Trace Gallagher warned viewers on Monday morning that “gangs that lie in wait” at post-office boxes could possibly steal their mail-in ballots, wondering aloud “what’s to stop them from grabbing” those ballots.
Interviewing Postal Police Officers Association president Frank Albergo on America’s Newsroom, Gallagher brought up a recent report that the U.S. Postal Service is ending daily patrols from its police officers meant to protect the blue collection boxes and mail vehicles from robberies.
The police union has pushed back on the order, saying they fear it could lead to thieves stealing ballots. Previously, the main concern for the postal police had been mail thieves looking to target mail containing credit cards or checks.
After Albergo said that “mail theft is soaring” and that he has “numbers that suggest [a] 600 percent” increase, Gallagher noted that “others say they aren’t sure if the numbers are accurate” before wondering aloud if this was tied to concerns over mail-in voting, which President Donald Trump has repeatedly and baselessly insisted is rife with fraud.
“Their point being there has been so much controversy about mail-in ballots and people are worried about mail-in ballots,” Gallagher declared before adding, “And the theme here is if they can’t tell us exactly how much mail theft has gone up, how in the world will they monitor any complaints or figure out a way to find out if there have been any problems with mail-in ballots?”
Albergo responded that the post office’s inspection service can’t track mail theft, prompting the Fox anchor to say that was “exactly” his question.
“If they can’t track mail theft, what’s the point?” Gallagher exclaimed. “The whole thing is, if I give a ballot, how do I know it got there? How do I know somebody didn’t steal it?”
The Fox News host then expressed concern about roving bands of criminals looking to swipe ballots from mailboxes.
“You hear these stories, and you were mentioning the articles, and I read some of these things about gangs that lie in wait at these blue post office boxes and go and they grab them and they are very good at this kind of stuff,” Gallagher said. “What’s to stop them from grabbing something else? Something that I put in there that needs to get to, you know, the election commission?”
Albergo, meanwhile, replied that “nothing” was stopping thieves from swiping ballots, prompting Gallagher to conclude that “we’re looking for answers as well as you are.”
The Daily Beast reported earlier this month that the network’s so-called “Brain Room” launched a behind-the-scenes operation to lend credibility to the president’s repeated accusations that mail-in voting will result in widespread fraud and problems. This has included attempts to validate Trump’s false claims that thousands of mail ballots have been thrown in rivers and trash cans, prompting the president’s mantra that the election will be “rigged.”
