According to the New York Times, Trump asked Rudy Giuliani to contact the Department of Homeland Security about the potential of removing voting machines in three key states. According to three whistleblowers, Giuliani made the decision six weeks after Trump’s loss to Joe Biden, but before the January 6 Capitol riot by supporters seeking to halt the certification of electoral college results. According to the New York Times, a DHS officer informed Giuliani that the agency lacked the jurisdiction to take the devices. According to the journal, Trump sought legal advice after considering having the Department of Defense remove the devices and hearing from his attorney general, William Barr, that the Department of Justice would not.
According to the Times, newly leaked DHS emails suggest that Trump was more directly involved than previously known in considering preparations to deploy his national security agencies to confiscate voting equipment. Trump claims that widespread voter fraud happened during the election. However, this was not the case. A House committee and a district attorney in Georgia will investigate his efforts to overturn the election on January 6, he said in a statement on Sunday. The District Attorney of New York, Fani Willis, has requested FBI protection after Trump encouraged supporters to protest her and other investigations into his financial links in New York.
During his Texas rally last Saturday, Trump promised pardons to January 6 rioters if re-elected president. More than 700 rioters have been charged, with 11 facing seditious conspiracy charges. According to the New York Times, a retired US army colonel named Phil Waldron was at the heart of efforts to get the authority to seize voting equipment in important states, modifying the plan to involve DHS after Giuliani argued that using the military would be too severe. Waldron, who lives in Texas, is linked to Michael Flynn, a retired general who was among conspiracy theorists asking Trump to steal voting machines.
Bennie Thompson, the committee chair, wrote to Giuliani last month, saying, “Between mid-November 2020 and January 6, 2021 (and thereafter), you actively promoted claims of election fraud on behalf of former President Trump and sought to persuade state legislators to take steps to overturn the election results.” According to witness testimony and public reporting, you asked President Trump in December 2020 to command the seizure of voting equipment around the country after being advised that the Department of Homeland Security lacked the legal power to do so.”
