A new report from The New York Times suggests that former President Donald Trump was more directly involved with a plan to seize voting machines during the 2020 election than previously thought.
- The New York Times report said that Trump directed his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to call the Department of Homeland Security to see if the DHS could legally control voting machines in three swing states.
- Giuliani made the call to the department’s acting deputy secretary, who said he didn’t have such authority.
- Trump also reportedly raised the possibility to Attorney General Bill Barr of whether or not the Justice Department could take control of the machines, per The New York Times. Barr shot down the idea.
Read the entire report at The New York Times.
Meanwhile ... Two advisers to then-President Trump drafted two versions of an executive order that would have seized voting machines, CNN reports.
- One order would have directed the Department of Defense to make the move.
- The other would have had the Department of Homeland Security seize the machines.
Why it matters: These are all bits of information that hint at “a broader effort to undermine the 2020 election results,” according to CNN.