Feds announce inquiry involving 9 mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania as Trump rails about fraud

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Far from the "out-of-control" fraud that President Donald Trump has described, federal authorities Thursday announced an inquiry into nine discarded mail-in ballots reportedly recovered from a county elections office in northeast Pennsylvania.

U.S. Attorney David Freed said federal authorities were alerted Monday to the discovery by the Luzerne County district attorney, prompting the inquiry by the FBI and state police.

"At this point we can confirm that a small number of military ballots were discarded," Freed's office said in a statement, adding that of the nine ballots seven had been cast for Trump.

"Two of the discarded ballots had been resealed inside their appropriate envelopes by Luzerne elections staff prior to recovery by the FBI and the contents of those 2 ballots are unknown."

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Earlier Thursday, Trump had referred to ballots that had been found in the trash as he continued to rail about his concerns for the integrity of the mail-in voting system.

Trump's warnings came as the FBI continued to assert that there was no evidence of a "coordinated" voter fraud campaign.