WASHINGTON (Washington Insider Magazine) – Multiple sources tell CNN that former President Donald Trump’s aides drafted 2 different versions of an executive order to freeze voting machines, one instructing the Department of Homeland Security to do so and the other instructing the Department of Defense to do so, as part of a larger effort to sway the 2020 election results.
According to the sources, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and retired Col. Phil Waldron came up with the notion of utilizing the federal government to gain access to voting equipment in states where Trump lost. Both Army veterans circulated false information about Trump’s election being rigged.
While advisers openly discussed the concept at the time, the fact that two draught executive orders were actually written for various agencies to carry out the job highlights the degree to which the former President’s associates planned to use his lame-duck administration’s authority to reverse the election.
It would have been unusual in US political history for the army or federal authorities to seize voting machines for political motives.
According to CNN, a draft order authorizing the Pentagon to seize voting machines has been issued. The National Archives has given over that document to a House select committee examining the invasion of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The executive orders were not issued, and it is unclear who authored them.
During a now-infamous White House meeting in mid-December 2020, though, Trump’s former attorney Sidney Powell and Flynn pushed for the plan. According to CNN at the time, the conference descended into heated discussions as several of the President’s advisors resisted different recommendations, including establishing martial law and appointing Powell as special counsel to examine election fraud charges.
The House select committee is now investigating the effort to draught an executive order and how it got started, including the roles of, Powell, Waldron and Flynn, as well as another Trump lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and Bernie Kerik, who worked with Giuliani just after the election to seek any proof of voter fraud.
According to witness statements presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee by former senior Justice Department officers who were present, Trump floated Cuccinelli as a potential candidate again during a White House meeting nearly 2 weeks after White House advisers pushed back on the concept of naming Powell to such a role.
