WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 01: Secretary of Defense Mark Esper speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump listens during the daily White House coronavirus press briefing April 1, 2020 in Washington, DC. After announcing yesterday that COVID-19 could kill between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans, the Trump administration is also contending with the economic effects of the outbreak as the stock market continues to fall, businesses remain closed, and companies lay off and furlough employees. (Image: Getty)
The existence of a second draft of an executive order written by former President Donald Trump‘s advisers ordering the Department of Homeland Security to secure voting machines has been revealed.
Earlier in January, the first draft of the executive order to seize voting machines was released by the National Archives as part of the Jan. 6 select committee’s investigation into the Capitol attack. That draft was directed to the Department of Defense.
Neither draft was issued and it’s unclear who the author was.
The idea to use the government reportedly came from Col. Phil Waldron and Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn. There is speculation that Trump’s former attorney Sidney Powell could have written the drafts, as they echo Powell and Flynn’s statements in a December 2020 meeting.
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“We’ve got no evidence at this point that there were steps taken in the Department of Defense to implement that memo but … it’s a lawless document and really breathtaking in its approach,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California), who is on the House select committee, told CNN after the first draft was obtained.
The committee is also investigating Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and Bernie Kerick, who aided Giuliani in searching for evidence of voter fraud after the 2020 election.
Giuliani met with Ken Cuccinelli, who was second in command at Homeland Security, to talk about seizing voting machines. Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, said that they were both very against the idea, “as was White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and then-President Trump,” Costello added.
While none of the plans in the draft were carried out, Trump continued to consider appointing a special counsel to investigate election fraud during his time in office.
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