US President Donald Trump has closed down a commission he set up to investigate voter fraud in the 2016 election. Trump blamed states' refusal to cooperate "despite evidence of fraud" he claims cost him the popular vote.
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US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to disband a commission investigating voter fraud during the 2016 presidential election.
"Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to dissolve the commission and has asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to review its initial findings and determine next courses of action," White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
He did win the crucial electoral college vote by prevailing in the Midwest, but his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton collected almost three million more votes nationwide.
Although those results were certified by the Federal Election Commission, Trump insisted he had actually won the popular vote if you "deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."
US President Donald Trump and his 2016 election rival, Democrat, Hillary ClintonImage: Reuters/S. Audette/J. Galeano
Lack of evidence
Election officials rejected the allegations and experts concluded that voter fraud on such a scale could not have taken place.
Many states refused requests from the commission for sensitive voter data, citing concerns over privacy.
Furthermore, there were fears that by complying they would be legitimizing the notion that voter fraud is widespread, something most studies have found to be not the case.
A study by a Loyola Law School professor, for example, found that out of one billion votes cast in all US elections between 2000 and 2014, there were only 31 known cases of impersonation fraud.
'Fire and Fury': A look inside Donald Trump's White House
Even before publication, a new book by American journalist Michael Wolff has triggered anger in Washington. Based on interviews with high-ranking officials and Trump himself, it offers a rare view into the White House.
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'Fire and Fury'
Excerpts published by US and British news outlets from American journalist Michael Wolff's new book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" about US President Donald Trump's administration have offered a look into the inner workings of the White House. From finding comfort in McDonald's hamburgers to Ivanka's presidential dreams, here are some excerpts from the book.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/B. Camp
'Melania was in tears'
"Shortly after 8 p.m. on Election Night, when the unexpected trend – Trump might actually win – seemed confirmed, Don Jr. told a friend that his father, or DJT, as he calls him, looked as if he had seen a ghost. Melania was in tears – and not of joy. There was, in the space of little more than an hour ... a befuddled Trump morphing into a disbelieving Trump and then into a horrified Trump."
Image: picture-alliance/AP/V. Mayo
Ivanka Trump the 'first woman president'?
"Balancing risk against reward, both Jared (Kushner) and Ivanka decided to accept roles in the West Wing over the advice of almost everyone they knew ... Between themselves, the two had made an earnest deal: If sometime in the future the opportunity arose, she'd be the one to run for president. The first woman president, Ivanka entertained, would not be Hillary Clinton; it would be Ivanka Trump."
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Finding comfort in fast food
"He had a longtime fear of being poisoned, one reason why he liked to eat at McDonald's – nobody knew he was coming and the food was safely pre-made."
Image: Instagram
Bannon's theories
"The real enemy, (Bannon) said, was China. China was the first front in a new Cold War. China's everything. Nothing else matters. We don't get China right, we don't get anything right. This whole thing is very simple. China is where Nazi Germany was in 1929 to 1930. The Chinese, like the Germans, are the most rational people in the world, until they're not."
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Bannon: Donald Jr. was 'treasonous'
"(Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner and campaign manager Paul Manafort) thought it was a good idea to meet with a foreign government inside Trump Tower in the conference room on the 25th floor – with no lawyers … Even if you thought that this was not treasonous, or unpatriotic, or bad shit, and I happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the FBI immediately," Bannon said.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/C. Kaster
'Losing was winning'
"Once he lost, Trump would be both insanely famous and a martyr to Crooked Hillary. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared would be international celebrities. Steve Bannon would become the de facto head of the tea-party movement ... Melania Trump, who had been assured by her husband that he wouldn't become president, could return to inconspicuously lunching. Losing was winning."
Image: picture-alliance/AP/B. Anderson
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The reactions
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the commission's vice chairman and a conservative Republican, said the decision to dissolve the bipartisan group was a "tactical change." Kobach alleged Democrats didn't want the investigation in the first place. "Their motto is, 'Nothing to see here,'" he said.
Critics have said the commission was part of a Republican campaign aimed at making it harder for traditional Democratic voting groups — minorities, young people and the poor — to cast ballots.
"It is no surprise that a commission founded on a lie of widespread voter fraud proved to be a fraud itself," said California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, a Democrat.
"No taxpayer dollars should have been wasted on Mr. Trump's voter suppression crusade."
Dale Ho, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, accused the commission of engaging in "a wild-goose chase."
"President Trump has tried and failed to spread his own fake news about voter fraud," Ho said.
