Trump announces voter fraud investigation

President Donald Trump announced plans this morning to open an investigation into the widespread voter fraud he claims tainted the 2016 election. He plans to focus on people registered to vote in more than one state, people who voted but are not citizens, and people who have died but remain on voter rolls. Election officials across the country insist they have no evidence of widespread fraud on Election Day. Trump’s own lawyers dismissed fraud claims in the lawsuit filed against recount challenges mounted by Green Party candidate Jill Stein. “All available evidence suggests that the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake,” they wrote in briefs filed in the Michigan case. But Trump continues to bristle over his failure to win the most votes in the presidential contest, reiterating this week his post-election assertion that fraud cost him the popular vote victory. The president’s friends say he has a right to defend claims he’s not a legitimate leader. Advisers admit the voter fraud flap is a distraction to the real work the new administration hopes to accomplish in its first few weeks in office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.