Trump disbands voter fraud commission

The White House announced Wednesday it would end the work of its voter fraud commission. “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,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to dissolve the commission.” The Department of Homeland Security will review the commission’s initial findings and suggest next steps to the president, Sanders added. At the start of 2017, Trump claimed he would have won the popular vote in the 2016 election if not for the 3 to 5 million illegal ballots cast for Hillary Clinton. Trump did not have evidence of such fraud at the time but resolved to find some. Soon after, he announced the formation of the commission, led by Vice President Mike Pence. After Wednesday’s announcement, Democrats said Trump never had the evidence to prove illegal votes and praised the end of the commission. In a tweet Thursday morning, Trump blamed Democratic-controlled states for undermining the commission’s work and urged future changes: “System is rigged, must go to Voter I.D.”