A plan Donald Trump has proposed during the campaign to give $200 to seniors that they can use for prescription drugs could violate election laws, Politico reports.
The Trump plan is designed to help Trump attract senior voters–a demographic in which he performed strongly in 2016 but is lagging behind Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden this cycle–by sending nearly $8 billion in cards siphoned by the Medicare Trust Fund to Medicare recipients.
Included with the cards would be a letter from the Administration which would undoubtedly praise Trump’s love of the elderly and how he’s done more for old people than any president ever in history.
Health and Human Services department’s general counselor Robert Charrow advised the White House to check with the Department of Justice public integrity section to see if the timing and cost of the ploy could be seen as election interference.
Trump publicly announced the plan on September 24th, likely to the surprise of his staff, claiming that the cards would be mailed in “coming weeks.” With just 18 days remaining until the election, however, the desired political impact is unlikely to be realized.