The co-chairs of the Congressional Task Force on Election Security want to know what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans do now that President Trump has turned the work of his defunct voter fraud commission over to the agency.
In a letter Tuesday, Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Robert Brady (D-Pa.) asked DHS Secretary Kristjen Nielsen to clarify what the agency’s responsibilities are related to the Presidential Commission on Election Integrity Trump dissolved earlier this month. {mosads}
The commission, which Trump created to investigate his unfounded claims that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election, was plagued by controversy and legal battles from its inception.
Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, Trump directed DHS to examine the commission’s initial findings and determine the next course of action.
But Brady and Thompson expressed concern that Trump’s order will distract DHS.
“It is unclear how the Department will carry out this charge given that the Commission never produced any findings,” they wrote. “Moreover, We are concerned that directing DHS essentially to take over where the Commission left off could distract the Department from its pressing obligation to protect US election systems from foreign interference and may undermine the burgeoning relationships DHS is building with state election officials.”
The House members asked Nielsen to identify what files it received from the commission, what new activities it plans to pursue and what the agency is doing to preserve important relationships between the agency and state election officials.