Trump Said He Voted By Mail In Florida Because He ‘should Be’ In D.c. He Cast His Ballot From Palm Beach.

President Donald Trump — a relentless critic of mail-in voting — said Thursday that he voted by mail in Florida’s special elections this month because he felt he should be in Washington D.C. “instead of being in the beautiful sunshine.”

“Because of the fact that I’m president of the United States, I did a mail-in ballot for elections that took place in Florida, because I felt I should be here instead of being in the beautiful sunshine,” Trump told reporters at the White House during Thursday’s Cabinet meeting.

Reminded that he is often in Palm Beach at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump responded: “I decided that I was going to vote by mail-in ballot because I couldn’t be there, because I had a lot of different things.”

But the president cast his mail-in vote from Palm Beach, records show.

Trump requested his mail-in ballot on Saturday, March 14, according to public Palm Beach County voter records. The ballot was sent to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate the same day and was received for processing the next day, on Sunday, March 15.

The president was in Florida both days, at his golf club from 8:45 a.m. to 2:37 p.m. on Saturday and 9:21 a.m. to 1:55 p.m. on Sunday, according to press pool reports. He took off from Palm Beach International Airport, en route back to Washington, at 6:33 p.m. on Sunday. In-person early voting was open from Saturday, March 14 through Sunday, March 22 at 7 p.m.

“We have exceptions for mail-in ballots, you do know that, right?” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “If you’re away, we have an exception. If you’re in the military, we have an exception. If you’re on a business trip, we have an exception. If you’re disabled, we have an exception. And if you’re ill, if you’re not feeling good. So I was away, mostly in Washington, D.C., so I used a mail-in ballot.”

White House spokesperson Olivia Wales did not respond directly to a question about why the president voted by mail despite being in the state. “As everyone knows, the President is a resident of Palm Beach and participates in Florida elections, but he obviously primarily lives at the White House in Washington, D.C.,” Wales said in a statement. She called this report “a non-story.”

Trump has levied a constant stream of criticism at mail-in voting, which he claims without evidence is cause for rampant election fraud.

In Memphis on Monday, he called the practice “mail-in cheating.”

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