Donald Trump’s phony commission to investigate non-existent pro-Clinton voter fraud in last year’s presidential election continues to devolve into a full-blown dumpster fire, a new report indicates.
According to The Hill, the commission – already under fire for unethical activity – may have violated the law.
More from the report:
But [head of the commission, Kris Kobach]  did not address the question of whether his office complied with federal law in issuing its request for public information. And if the commission didn’t follow the rule of law, the resistant states might have another effective argument.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, information requests from agencies and other federal entities are supposed to first be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).
…
The law also requires that agencies justify their requests for public information, specify how it will be used and provide assurances that data will be protected. The law also obliges the agencies to estimate how many hours it will take entities to respond.
It does not appear that the commission submitted its request to OIRA before sending a letter to states asking for voter information.
Experts say the failure to do so would be significant, since states would be under no obligation to respond to requests that violate federal law.
The news that Trump’s commission may have violated federal law comes hours after it was reported that all 50 states have refused to give Donald Trump all or part of their voter data, yet another humiliation for the White House who can’t even get red states to do their bidding.
It also comes days after the commission was slapped with a legal complaint alleging that Kobach, the man heading up the panel, was using it to promote his own campaign to become the governor of Kansas.
From the start, Trump’s voter fraud commission was a complete sham built upon the tinfoil hat idea that the president only lost the popular vote because of illegal activity, even though there has never been evidence to support such a claim.
The commission has since devolved into a complete embarrassment for the administration – one that appears to have violated federal law.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
