Donald Trump says the House might decide the election as he paints doomsday scenario

President Donald Trump railed about mail-in voting, which he cast as vulnerable to foreign interference – and raised the prospect Wednesday that a contested presidential election could be thrown to the House.

He also vowed to squelch any violent protests on Election Day, saying they will be ‘put down very, very quickly.

The president exploded about mail-in voting at a White House press briefing after DailyMail.com asked him about his earlier vow to ‘put down’ any potential violent election protests, which he termed an ‘insurrection.’

Trump said at a White House briefing that ‘at a certain point it goes to Congress’ raising the prospect of a contested election

He then raised the prospect of an election so disputed that it ends up being decided not by the direct vote or the Electoral College, but by the House of Representatives. 

‘It’s not just the counting of the ballots, which, by the way will take forever,’ Trump fumed. ‘It’ll take forever. You think November 3rd? You might not have – I guess, at a certain point it goes to Congress. At a certain point it goes to Congress – you know that,’ he said. 

The Constitution provides for the House to decide disputed elections, where each state delegation gets a single vote – a situation that could favor the Republicans, depending on the composition of the new Congress. 

Trump unloaded on mail-in ballots, which he describes as fraudulent, even as he defended his own absentee ballot in Florida.

‘It’s very dangerous for our country. And you know who knows that better than anybody? The democrats,’ Trump said.

Asked about his prior comments, as well as attorney general Bill Barr urging prosecutors to go after violent prosecutors with sedition charges, Trump responded: ‘If there’s any kind of demonstration of violence, there will be nothing that interferes with this product, this vote.’

‘There’s going to be nothing.’

‘If we have violent demonstrations yes we will put it down very, very quickly if there is, absolutely. 

Then he continued: ‘The biggest problem we have right now are the ballots. Millions of ballots going out. That’s the biggest problem.’ He then dismissed intelligence warnings about Russian election interference, as well as preferences by China and Iran. ‘When you talk about other countries, whether it’s China, Russia, or many others that get mentioned, they’re in a much better position with these paper ballots to do something than they would ever be under the old system,’ Trump said. 

Trump said he considered Democratic governors pushing mail voting amid the pandemic a greater threat than Russia. 

‘Our biggest threat to this election is governors from opposing parties controlling ballots, millions of ballots. To me that’s a much bigger threat than foreign countries,’ Trump said.