(1 Sep 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++CLIENTS NOTE: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS PROFANITY IN SHOT 2++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington, DC – 1 September 2026
1. Wide of Democratic House leaders walking into House press gallery
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Ted Lieu, D-California: ++SHOT CONTAINS PROFANITY++
“Now, some of you may have seen an article today about a whistleblower at the United States Postal Service saying that the Postal Service is trying to implement Donald Trump’s executive order on mail ballots, even though right now the courts have said that that order is unconstitutional. So Leader Jeffries earlier this year established a task force with ranking member Joe Morelle (D-NY) to look at different scenarios where the Trump administration is going to try to suppress the vote of the American people. This is one of the scenarios that they envisioned. They are working, actually the Democratic Caucus is working with attorneys generals, with civil society groups, with nonprofits across America to address these issues. One of the messages I want to give the American People is the Democratic caucus is on this, we’re working to fight back. The other message I want to give is just go fuc***g vote. The Trump administration is going to try to suppress your vote, they’re going to put obstacles in front of you, find a way around it. If you don’t get a mail-in ballot, go vote in person. Make sure you vote early. If you discover you’re not registered to vote, well, go register to vote. You can go check right now if you’re registered to vote. Make sure that you go vote. That’s the best way to stick it to the administration that’s trying to keep you from voting. Go vote.”
3. Wide of Republican House leadership walking into gallery
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House:
“(REPORTER: There’s a new report out today saying that the U.S. Postal Service defied or allegedly defied a court order to implement the president’s executive order on mail-in voting. Have you had a chance to look at these disclosures and any reaction to that?)
No, I haven’t heard that at all. Look, the on the, on a larger matter – I don’t know about the details of that – but the larger matter is on election integrity, Look, everybody knows, if you just ask yourself quietly, is it a good idea to keep voting, to keep tally of the vote, counting votes a month after an election? I mean, obviously it opens the door for all sorts of hijinks. So you got a state like California, they just they just claim to have all these new, you know tranches of ballots delivered in people’s trunks with their ballot harvesting and you know people receiving mail-in ballots three weeks after an election. I mean, it just it it gives the appearance of impropriety and it opens the door for fraud and so the president and republicans in congress have been a singular voice on this thing saying we must have free and fair elections. The Democrats in Congress will not vote for it.”
++BLACK FRAMES++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House:
6. Johnson and Republican leadership walk out of room
STORYLINE:
Congressional leaders from both parties are reacting Tuesday to a whistleblower report warning that the U.S. Postal Service is rushing to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order on mail-in ballots, potentially leading to the rejection of large numbers of ballots and jeopardizing mail voting.
The whistleblower made the allegation anonymously in documents submitted by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal to the Postal Service.
===========================================================
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/1db62a87f4a14180b0cfa80ef034bb77
Credit to : AP Archive