By Jenna Johnson and Matt
Zapotosky
January 25, 2017
President Trump plans to ask for a “major
investigation” into allegations of widespread voter fraud as he
continues to claim, without providing evidence, that he lost the popular vote
in November's election because millions of illegal votes were cast, according
to tweets posted Wednesday.
The White House has yet to provide details,
but Trump said in back-to-back tweets that the investigation into “VOTER
FRAUD” — Trump used all capitals for emphasis — would cover “those registered
to vote in two states, those who are illegal” and “those registered to vote who
are dead (and many for a long time).”
“Depending on results,” Trump tweeted, “we will
strengthen up voting procedures!”
Trump did not indicate who would lead such an
investigation or what ground it would cover. White House press secretary Sean
Spicer didn't use the word “investigation” during a briefing Wednesday
afternoon, instead saying the president wants a “study” or “task force” to
study the issue of fraud, especially in “bigger states.” Spicer made clear that
such a probe would not just focus on the 2016 election. A Justice Department
spokesman declined to comment on whether it would launch an investigation.
“I think we have to understand where the
problem exists, how deep it goes and then suggest some remedies to it,” Spicer
said.
Trump continues to face scrutiny, along
with some
mockery, for insisting during a private
reception with congressional leaders Monday that there were between 3
million and 5 million ballots illegally cast in the election,
allowing his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, to win the popular vote by more
than 2.8 million votes, although she lost the electoral-college vote to Trump.
The president and his aides have yet to provide any verifiable
facts to back up his claim, and analyses of the
election found virtually no confirmed cases of voter fraud, let
alone millions.
Trump's campaign attorneys fought recount
attempts in several states by Green Party candidate Jill Stein and stated in a
recent court filing, “All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general
election was not tainted by fraud or mistake.”
A Trump adviser told The Washington Post on
Wednesday that Trump has been stewing about his popular-vote count for weeks
and insisting to friends that Clinton benefited from illegal votes in
Democratic-leaning states such as California. He has mentioned to several of
them his interest in launching an investigation into possible voter fraud, said
the adviser, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The adviser went on to frame Wednesday's tweets
as a deeply personal move by Trump reflective of his thinking on the election
and did not have details on whether congressional leaders had been briefed on
Trump's desire to have an investigation, although the adviser said Trump did
tell them Monday about his broader concerns regarding the election count during
a reception at the White House.
Trump also tweeted that he will make his pick
to fill Justice Antonin Scalia's seat on the Supreme Court on Feb. 2. Scalia
died last February.
Lawmakers from both parties have declined to
embrace Trump's version of the election. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.)
said Tuesday that he has “seen no evidence to that effect.” House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at a news conference Wednesday
that she cannot understand why the newly installed president is “so
insecure.”
“To suggest and to undermine the integrity of
our voter system is really strange,” Pelosi said. “... On top of it, he wants
to investigate something that can clearly be proven to be false, but he resists
investigations of a Russian disruption of our election and any connection to
his campaign. All we want is the truth for the American people.”
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he believes the “prime
jurisdiction” to investigate alleged voter fraud is at the local and county
levels. But he said there is a “federal function” since states set voting laws
and certify the tallies.
“I don't see the evidence [of fraud],” Chaffetz
added. “But he's the president and if he thinks it's there, have at it.”
The National
Association of Secretaries of State, which represents many of the
country's state elections officials, said in a statement Tuesday: “We are
not aware of any evidence that supports the voter fraud claims made by
President Trump, but we are open to learning more about the administration’s
concerns.”
Given that studies have
shown that cases of in-person voter fraud are exceptionally rare,
voting rights activists and others are worried that Trump's unfounded comments
could lead to more voter-identification laws that they say disenfranchise
poor or minority voters, such as the one in North Carolina that the Supreme
Court declined to reinstate last summer.
Three congressional Democrats — Reps. Elijah E.
Cummings of Maryland, Robert A. Brady of Pennsylvania and James E. Clyburn
of South Carolina — say they are sending letters to 102 chief election
officials and attorneys general in all 50 states and the District to request
all cases of voters who tried to cast a ballot in the November election and
were barred from doing so.
“Republicans in statehouses across America have
passed restrictive laws that impair the ability of legitimate voters to
participate, and they use the myth of voter fraud to justify their abuses,”
Cummings said in a statement.
Spicer on Tuesday defended Trump’s
“long-standing belief” that large-scale voter fraud occurred and pointed to a
study that did not contain the conclusion he said it did. His comments
Wednesday seemed to focus on identifying ways to reduce the chances
that voter fraud could occur — such as ensuring that voter rolls are
updated — and he did not seem to embrace the president's idea of an
investigation into actual cases of voter fraud.
Such an investigation could be led by the
president’s attorney general. Trump's pick for the position, Sen. Jeff
Sessions (R-Ala.), has asserted in the past that voter fraud exists, but he has
distanced
himself from Trump's claim of millions of fraudulent votes.
“I don’t know what the president-elect meant or
was thinking when he made that comment or what facts he may have had to justify
his statement,” Sessions said at his confirmation hearing this month. “I would
just say that every election needs to be managed closely, and we need to ensure
that there is integrity in it. And I do believe we regularly have fraudulent
activities occur during election cycles.”
Sessions, who has yet to be confirmed, said he
had not talked to Trump “about that in any depth or particularly since the
election.” A spokeswoman for Sessions declined to comment beyond what the
senator said at his confirmation hearing and referred questions about the
investigation to the White House.
Sessions has been questioned on his handling
of a voter fraud case brought against black civil rights activists in Alabama
in the 1980s, when he was a U.S. attorney.
The Justice Department can establish
jurisdiction when a federal candidate's name is on the ballot, though it is
significantly harder when one is not. Although state law generally governs
voter registration and other election-related matters such as the method of
casting ballots, federal authorities are often seen as preferable to lead
investigations into claims of irregularities. That is because federal
authorities have more resources and are detached from local political interests
and because their juries are generally drawn from a broader geographic area.
The Justice Department, though, looks at cases
with an eye on whether they can be prosecuted — and does not intervene to
attempt to improve voting systems. The investigation contemplated in the
president's tweet might be more akin to a study that broadly assesses the
problem, or non-problem, of voter fraud, and how state and local systems might
prevent it.
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