The president, speaking at the daily White House briefing on the pandemic, made clear he does not support using vote-by-mail as a backstop in the event the outbreak keeps people from going to the polls.

"No, because I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting," said Trump, who has levied baseless accusations about voter fraud that he claims kept him from winning the popular vote in 2016. "I think people should vote with ID, voter ID. I think voter ID is very important, and the reason they don't want voter ID is because they intend to cheat."

"It shouldn't be mail-in voting," he added. "It should be you go to a booth and you proudly display yourself. You don't send it in the mail where people can pick up — all sorts of bad things can happen … by the time it gets in and is tabulated."

Democrats have pushed for additional funding to bolster mail-in and absentee voting availability. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and others argue that voting by mail could be necessary in the event the virus is still prevalent and keeps poll workers and voters from casting their ballots in November.