Charles called deployment plan ‘my secret’ at Young Republicans gathering
PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s Republican nominee for governor, Bobby Charles, told supporters at an Aug. 20 gathering in Arundel that he would ask Tom Homan, the White House border czar, to send U.S. Marshals and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling places in the state for this fall’s midterm elections, according to audio obtained by The Associated Press.
Charles framed the request as a personal appeal to a friend. “Here’s my secret,” he told members of a Maine Young Republicans chapter, according to the audio. “I have a friend named Tom Homan. Tom and I used to get on Fox all the time together. Tom’s an awesome guy.”
Charles then laid out the timing of the deployment he envisioned. “I’m going to ask Tom, I’m going to actually — three or four weeks before the election, maybe three — I’m going to make an appeal for ICE and Marshals to be at our voting booths,” he said, according to the recording.
The audio was first reported by the Bangor Daily News before AP obtained the recording.