Trump’s new go-to complaint: ‘Election interference’: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

In today’s edition, we examine how Donald Trump is making baseless claims of “election interference” as he faces federal charges himself. Plus, senior national political reporter Jonathan Allen explains why Trump is turning down big mainstream media opportunities in the closing weeks of the race.

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Trump casts ‘election interference’ label on everything while facing federal charges

Former President Donald Trump has never stopped propagating falsehoods that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Now, he is increasingly turning his attention to pre-emptive claims that the 2024 election is being rigged to prevent him from returning to the White House, Vaughn Hillyard reports. 

This year, Trump and his campaign have cited more than a dozen examples of so-called election interference activities by Americans to claim the coming election is being unfairly manipulated. But as general election voting begins around the country, the campaign has provided no evidence of actual cheating and no specific allegations related to potentially illegal efforts by Americans to tamper with this fall’s election proceedings.

The latest instance came after the judge overseeing his federal election interference case in Washington released a redacted filing from special counsel Jack Smith. 

“The Democrat Party is guilty of the Worst Election Interference in American History,” Trump wrote Wednesday on social media. He went on to call the release “another obvious attempt by the Harris-Biden regime to…INTERFERE IN THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.”

And on Thursday, Trump called it a “weaponization of government” to release the filing just a month before Election Day.

As Ryan J. Reilly, Ken Dilanian and Daniel Barnes note, it’s true that the Justice Department typically abides by an informal 60-day “quiet period” before an election — meaning they avoid taking discretionary action that could be seen as influencing voters. The new disclosures from the special counsel’s office, however, were made in an ongoing criminal case at the order of a federal judge, Tanya Chutkan.

Smith was not aware that Chutkan was going to make the decision to release the document, nor the timing of that release, two sources familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly told NBC News.

Others have compared the “October surprise” filing to then-FBI director James Comey’s pronouncements about Hillary Clinton’s emails in October 2016, to Trump’s benefit a month later. But the scenarios are starkly different.

In 2016, the director of the FBI made disparaging comments about a presidential candidate who, their investigation had found, did not commit conduct that warranted criminal charges. In 2024, a special counsel who secured three separate indictments from different federal grand juries against a former president disclosed information in an ongoing criminal case at the order of a federal judge.

Other recent examples where Trump has leveled a baseless “election interference” claim include: the Secret Service informing his campaign that it did not have enough resources to secure an outdoor rally; saying without evidence that Google manipulated its systems to reveal “bad stories” about him and “good stories” about Vice President Kamala Harris; and accusing Democrats of intending to use a decades-old law that allows Americans living overseas to vote by mail in order to “cheat.”  

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Why Trump is shying away from major media moments in the final stretch 

By Jonathan Allen

In an unusual twist, former President Donald Trump is stepping away from the spotlight of major mainstream media in the closing weeks of the campaign.

Trump chose not to sit for the traditional presidential nominee interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes.” He has said he won’t debate Vice President Kamala Harris again. And there’s nothing currently on his public schedule that figures to bring in tens or hundreds of millions of viewers.

Sure, Trump is giving up some reach in the crucial stretch run before Election Day. But it’s safe to say that anyone in America with a television, radio, smartphone, newspaper or stone carving knows who Trump is. With upside-down approval ratings, and a penchant for divisive rhetoric, he runs more of a risk of alienating swing voters than attracting them when his audience is large and ideologically diverse. Rallies, ads and interviews with friendly media outlets — aimed at firing up his base — are safer venues for him. 

Moreover, some independent voters are still making up their minds about Harris. Trump’s team has reason to think that a focus on her will hurt her more than it helps her.

Or, as one GOP strategist put it to NBC News, “Whoever this election is about will lose.”

If Trump senses that he’s on track to fail again, he may decide that he wants to make himself more available to larger television audiences, even if it means the risk of more adversarial interviews.

The same goes for Harris, who has been highly selective about her interactions with major media outlets.

But for now, Trump has little to gain from greater exposure and a lot to lose.

That’s all from the Politics Desk for now. If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at [email protected]

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