CNN anchor clashes with Trump campaign advisor over voter fraud claims

A CNN reporter has attacked a Trump campaign advisor live on air, accusing her of "saying a bunch of crap" about mail-in voting fraud.

Donald Trump has been outspoken in his opposition to mail-in voting, which is expected to increase dramatically this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The US President has claimed mail-in voting is susceptible to large-scale fraud and could impact the results of the November election where he will face Democratic candidate Joe Biden.

But experts say voter fraud of any kind is exceedingly rare in the US.

On Wednesday CNN anchor Brianna Keilar interviewed senior Trump campaign advisor Mercedes Schlapp on the issue.

"We do have an issue with mail-in fraud. You might not think so. I think that any fraud should be unacceptable and I think we have to preserve the integrity of this election and voter integrity as well," Schlapp commented.

She said that new legislation pushed in Nevada would allow residents to vote several days after the election, so if they don't like the announced result they could then vote and potentially change the result. 

"That is extremely problematic."

But Keilar pointed out several studies which showed mail-in voting fraud showed it generally is "statistically insignificant". 

"They have found that there is no fraud. First off, voter fraud in general is minuscule," Keilar asked.

"We are in a pandemic Mercedes so I would say you have bigger problems than this."

Schlapp commented that they obviously weren't "seeing eye to eye" to which Keilar replied: "Well no because I'm talking about facts".

Keilar then questioned why the Trump administration would take away some American's "ability to practice their right as an American and vote" over the issue.

After talking over each other for most of the interview, Keilar conceded "this is just pointless".

"This is pointless. I get it, you’re just saying a bunch of crap. Okay. You’re saying a bunch of crap."

On Thursday Trump's reelection campaign and the national Republican Party sued Nevada to block a new law that will send a mail-in ballot to every registered voter ahead of November's election.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court, claims the Democratic-sponsored legislation will result in "inevitable" voter fraud.