Trump's Legal Threats Condemned Amid Rising Election Tensions

U.S. election administrators and Kamala Harris' campaign condemned Donald Trump's threats to jail 'corrupt' election officials if he wins, accusing him of inciting violence. Trump reiterated baseless claims of voter fraud, leading to fears of political violence. The close election battle heightens tensions.

U.S. election administrators and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris' campaign condemned Monday threats by Donald Trump to jail 'corrupt' election officials if he wins on Nov. 5, accusing him of intimidation and inciting potential violence.

They were responding to a social media post by the Republican presidential candidate on Saturday, in which he threatened a range of people with prosecution if they engaged in voter fraud in the 2024 election. Studies have found voter fraud in the U.S. to be extremely rare. Trump wrote, 'We cannot let our Country further devolve into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON'T! Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.'

Trump also repeated his baseless claim that his 2020 election defeat to Democratic President Joe Biden was due to fraud, the same message he gave to supporters before the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. Adrian Fontes, a Democrat and the secretary of state in the battleground state of Arizona, described Trump's post on his Truth Social account as 'tyrannical' and said it had the potential to incite political violence.

(With inputs from agencies.)