Feds probing trashed ballots

The Justice Department on Thursday said the FBI has opened an investigation into nine absentee ballots — seven cast for President Trump — that were found in the garbage near Scranton, Pa.

Trump routinely expresses doubt about the reliability of mail-in voting amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the probe quickly gained headlines.

“At this point, we can confirm that a small number of military ballots were discarded,” US Attorney David Freed said in a statement.

“Of the nine ballots that were discarded and then recovered, 7 were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump,” he added.

It wasn’t clear for whom the other two ballots were cast, Freed said, as they “had been resealed inside their appropriate envelopes,” by elections staffers in Luzerne County.

Freed said the probe began Monday at the request of Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis.

Trump condemned the discovery.

“They found, I understand, eight ballots in a wastepaper basket in some location,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn before the number was updated.

The ballots “had the Trump name on it, and they were thrown into a wastepaper basket,” the president said.

“We want to make sure the election is honest and I’m not sure that it can be. I don’t know that it can be with this whole situation — unsolicited ballots, they are unsolicited, millions being sent to everybody.”

Nine states and Washington, DC, will mail ballots to all registered voters.