当代理副司法部长特伦特·麦科特在司法部总部亲自宣布起诉时，这标志着一项事关国家重大的案件。因此，当他宣布将举行首次新闻发布会时，外界理所当然地预期会是一宗重大案件。
When the deputy attorney general personally announces an indictment from Justice Department headquarters, it signals a matter of national importance. So when Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter announced that he would hold his first news conference, observers rightly expected a major case.
然而，麦科特宣布的却是一名流氓邮政员工因不当处理邮件而被起诉。这名犹他州邮递员达蒙·马泰·塞伊当时显然是在代替同事投递邮件。据他自己供述，他感到“不堪重负”，为了“减轻工作量”，将一批未投递的邮件丢弃在教堂的垃圾桶里。在接受联邦执法人员访谈时，他承认这是出于“沮丧”和“懒惰”做出的“错误决定”。塞伊声称他认为被丢弃的邮件是广告材料。但据检方称，其中还包括初选的300张邮寄选票。他被控一项重罪，即延误或销毁邮件，这是几种常见邮政犯罪之一。
Instead, Mr. McCotter announced an indictment of a rogue postal worker for improperly disposing of mail. The Utah mail carrier, Damon Matai Seei, was apparently covering a colleague’s delivery route at the time. By his own admission, he was feeling “overwhelmed,” and sought to “lighten his workload” by discarding a batch of undelivered mail in a church dumpster. In an interview with federal law enforcement, he admitted this was a “poor decision” made out of “frustration” and “laziness.”Mr. Seei claimed that he believed the discarded mail was advertising material. But according to prosecutors, it also included 300 mail-in ballots for a primary election. He was charged with a single felony count of delay or destruction of mail, which is one of several commonly prosecuted postal crimes.
塞伊显然没有干预选举的意图。但这并未阻止司法部将他作为选举破坏者推向公众。副司法部长称这名34岁、无前科的塞伊是“公众和选举制度完整性的危险分子”。麦科特和他的上司、司法部长托德·布兰奇各自登上福克斯新闻，为这一说法站台。
Mr. Seei had no apparent intent to interfere with an election. But that did not stop the Justice Department from offering him up to the public as an election saboteur. The deputy attorney general called Mr. Seei — a 34-year-old with no prior criminal history — “a danger to the public and to the integrity of the electoral system.”Mr. McCotter and his boss, Attorney General Todd Blanche, each appeared on Fox News to shore up the story.
他们的自我吹嘘凸显了司法部领导层多么渴望证实总统关于选举干预的指控，以及他们失败得多么惨痛。在新闻发布会上，麦科特训诫记者：“记住，各位。选举舞弊是真实存在的。”言下之意：我们可能没有多少证据，但请相信我们。
Their chest-thumping highlights how desperate Justice Department leaders are to substantiate the president’s claims of election interference, and how miserably they are failing. At the news conference, Mr. McCotter admonished reporters: “Remember, folks. Voting fraud is real.”In other words: We may not have much proof, but trust us.
最近民调显示，特朗普总统关于邮寄投票舞弊的无根据指控，难以说服其基本盘以外的选民。尽管如此，身边的官员仍执着致力于证明相反观点——宛如那些拒绝直言皇帝未着寸缕的大臣。麦考特新闻发布会后，司法部一名高级发言人严厉斥责了一名记者，后者将西伊的起诉定性为“一起关于疲惫邮递员的案件”。司法部在其官方X账号发布了一段精心制作的视频，麦考特在其中无力且无证据地坚称，该案“只是冰山一角”。
Recent polling shows that President Trump’s baseless claims about mail-in voting fraud are persuading few people outside his base. Still, the officials who surround him remain doggedly committed to proving otherwise — much like the ministers who refused to tell the emperor he was wearing no clothes. After Mr. McCotter’s news conference, a top Justice Department spokeswoman lashed out at a correspondent who characterized Mr. Seei’s prosecution as “a case about a tired mailman.”On its official X account, the department posted a highly produced video in which Mr. McCotter insists weakly, and without evidence, that the case is “just the tip of the iceberg.”