Washington: US President Donald Trump has dissolved a controversial commission he had set up to investigate illegal voting in the 2016 election, attributing the move to various states’ refusal to participate in the board.
Trump had established the commission in May after claiming without evidence that massive voter fraud had cost him the popular vote in the presidential election, and he appointed Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to lead the panel.
His rival Hillary Clinton won three million more votes overall than Trump in results that were certified by the Federal Election Commission.
In a statement, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump had decided to dissolve the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity “rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense”.
“Despite substantial evidence of voter fraud, many states have refused to provide the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity with basic information relevant to its inquiry,” Sanders said.
“Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today President Donald J Trump signed an executive order to dissolve the Commission, and he has asked the Department of Homeland Security to review its initial findings and determine next courses of action,” Sanders said.
From the start, Trumps voter fraud commission was hobbled by the refusal of most states to share voters information and beset by legal challenges including one filed by a commission member, Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap. State election officials rejected requests for their voter rolls as invasions of privacy.
Senator Chuck, Senate Minority Leader, said that the commission never had anything to do with election integrity.
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