President
Donald Trump on Thursday raised the idea of delaying the Nov. 3 U.S.
elections, an idea immediately rejected by both
Democrats and his fellow
Republicans in
Congress - the sole branch of government with the authority to make such a change.
Critics and even Trump's allies dismissed the notion as an unserious attempt to distract from devastating economic news, but some legal experts warned that his repeated attacks could undermine his supporters' faith in the
election process.
Trump's statement on
Twitter comes as the
United States is enduring the greatest crises of a generation: a
Coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 150,000 lives, a crippling recession sparked by the outbreak and nationwide
protests against
police violence and
racism.