Ex-DHS leader says conspiracy to seize voting machines could be crime

Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Tuesday said any conspiracy to seize voting machines would potentially be criminal. 

Johnson made the remarks on CNN one day after it was reported that Trump administration advisers had drafted an executive order that would have directed his former department to seize voting machines in the U.S. to keep former President Trump in office.

“This is a very troubling scenario that we’ve apparently uncovered. It wasn’t just some crazy idea floated by lawyers. It was an idea reduced to draft executive orders, which is very dangerous, very troubling and yet more evidence of how a year ago, in January 2021, our democracy really teetered on the brink,” Johnson, who served under the Obama administration, said while appearing on CNN.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked Johnson if such an action potentially constituted criminality.

“It could potentially constitute a crime in my view,” Johnson replied. “Certainly conspiring to seize voting machines, conspiring to hijack our election that way, to hijack our democracy, and I hope the Jan. 6 committee and even the Department of Justice are looking at this apparent evidence.”

On Monday, CNN reported that Trump administration advisers had drafted an executive order to have the Department of Homeland Security seize voting machines in the U.S. This order was separate from another drafted order obtained by Politico earlier this month that would have given this directive to the Department of Defense.

According to CNN’s report, the idea was spearheaded by retired Col. Phil Waldron and former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who publicly endorsed the idea of seizing voting machines leading up to President Biden’s inauguration.