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.
PTI
