The White House is backing away from President Donald Trump’s promise to launch an investigation into the voter fraud claims he made up.
One senior administration official told CNN that while such an investigation could happen in the future, it was no longer a priority. This explains why the executive order on the probe that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Trump would sign last month was never released.
On Jan. 25, Trump promised a “major investigation” into the 2016 presidential election, claiming that at least 3 million people had voted illegally, and all those votes had gone to his opponent, Hillary Clinton. It’s worth noting that Clinton beat Trump in the popular vote by around 3 million.
The president said that the investigation would target undocumented immigrants, dead people who were still registered and those registered to vote in more than one state.
His rhetoric echoes remarks he made during the campaign that the election process was “rigged” against him.
Despite Trump’s repeated efforts to cast doubt on the validity of the election, Americans aren’t convinced. A Politico/Morning Consult poll released earlier this week found that only 1 in 4 respondents believed his claims.
The president’s accusations are problematic because multiple studies have disproven the voter fraud myth. Also, being improperly registered isn’t actually voter fraud. This is good news for several people close to Trump, including his daughter Tiffany, who were on the voter rolls in more than one state.
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