N.Y. lawmakers react to Trump’s election speech

When asked what he felt President Donald Trump was trying to accomplish by addressing the nation on elections, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was not coy.

“Donald Trump and Republicans are trying to steal the midterm elections,” Jeffries said.

In a 26-minute primetime speech Thursday, Trump derided America’s election system.

“The system we have today falls catastrophically short,” he said.

For years, the president has claimed, without evidence, that the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, was rigged.

On Thursday, he declassified documents that he claims show Chinese meddling in the race.

While Finger Lakes Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney posted one such document online, labeling it a “bombshell,” Rochester Democratic Rep. Joe Morelle said the reports are nothing new for lawmakers and show no consequential manipulation of the 2020 race.

“He didn’t release anything that hasn’t already been made available to the intelligence community and to members of the legislature. And despite that, his intelligence community, his own — because remember, this happened in 2020. He was president. So it was his intelligence agencies concluded that there was no hacking,” Morelle said.

As top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, Morelle has been tasked with leading the Caucasus counter-offense to the president’s swipes at the American electoral system.

“The president just is trying to, I think, lead to a failure of confidence by the American people,” Morelle said.