5 days after the National Day of Patriotic Devotion (NDofPD+5)
Trump tweets: “I will be asking for a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal and even, those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time). Depending on results, we will strengthen up voting procedures!”
The National Association of Secretaries of State responded with this press release: “We are not aware of any evidence that supports the voter fraud claims made by President Trump, but we are open to learning more about the Administration’s concerns. In the lead up to the November 2016 election, secretaries of state expressed their confidence in the systemic integrity of our election process as a bipartisan group, and they stand behind that statement today.”
The Ohio Secretary of State, a Republican, responded with this tweet: “We conducted a review 4 years ago in Ohio & already have a statewide review of 2016 election underway. Easy to vote, hard to cheat.”
An ongoing but largely completed state audit of the November 8 presidential election in Detroit has yet to produce any evidence of fraud, Michigan Bureau of Elections Director Chris Thomas said Tuesday. Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s office launched the audit in mid-December after voting irregularities were discovered during a partial recount of the election, including mismatches between ballot boxes and recorded vote totals in nearly 60 percent of the city’s precincts. While state auditors continue to review data in Lansing, they have finished on-the-ground work in Detroit. The Detroit News, Jan 24, 2017
The New Yorker reported that Steve Bannon, chief counselor to President Trump, is registered to vote in two states.
NBC reported Tiffany Trump is registered to vote in two states, New York & Pennsylvania.
Tom Bonier, CEO of Target, tweeted: “Two people named Reinhold R. Priebus, both born in March ‘72, are registered to vote in Kenosha County, WI. Different addresses. Fraud?” and “Fun with voter files: I found Steven Mnuchin on the voter rolls in both CA and NY. Thank God President Trump is looking into this fraud.”
A draft White House order seeks review of interrogation rules and if CIA-run prisons outside US should be reopened. AP News via Twitter
Agriculture Department lifts gag order for scientists after public outcry. The Hill via Twitter
Government agencies continue to apparently subtweet at Donald Trump:
Department of Defense tweets: “From refugee to #Marine. @USMC Cpl Ali. J. Mohammed takes the fight to the doorstep of those who cast his family out.” On Twitter, this is known as a “subtweet,” a Twitter post that appears to talk smack about another Twitter user without mentioning the user by name. Via Twitter
Death Valley National Park posted several tweets regarding the internment of Japanese Americans in Death Valley.
Golden Gate National Park tweeted a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
“Mr. Trump has the television — and his old, unsecured Android phone, to the protests of some of his aides — to keep him company. That was the case after 9 p.m. on Tuesday, when Mr. Trump appeared to be reacting to Bill O’Reilly’s show on Fox News, which was airing a feature on crime in Chicago.” The New York Times
Senior Trump administration staffers including Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner, Sean Spicer and Steve Bannon have active accounts on a Republican National Committee email system … The system (rnchq.org) is the same one the Bush administration was accused of using to evade transparency rules after claiming to have “lost” 22 million emails. Making use of separate political email accounts at the White House is not illegal. In fact, they serve a purpose by allowing staff to divide political conversations from actual White House work. Commingling politics and state business violates the Hatch Act, which restricts many executive branch employees from engaging in political activity on government time. Newsweek
Membership fees at Mar-A-Lago double to $200,000. The Palm Beach resort is owned by Donald Trump. He recently referred to it as his “Winter White House.” via CNBC
Trump signs an Executive Order to start the Mexico border wall project. AP News
“Trump says US taxpayers will pay initial bill for border wall, which will begin construction in ‘months.’” The Hill
Former Mexican president Vicente Fox tweets at Donald Trump, not for the first time: “There is no way Mexico is going to pay for that fucking wall.”
“What we are witnessing is the destruction of the credibility of the American government. This spectacle of obvious lies being peddled by the White House is a tragedy for U.S. democracy. But the rest of the world — and in particular America’s allies — should also be frightened. A Trump administration that is addicted to the “big lie” has very dangerous implications for global security. As Robert Moore, the Washington correspondent for ITN, puts it: “If the White House press secretary says things that we know to be demonstrably false, why will we trust him on North Korea, Russia, Iran [and the] war on ISIS?” That is not just a good question — it is a vital one.” The Financial Times
“Trump administration mandating EPA scientific studies, data undergo review by political staff before public release.” AP News
“Trump administration preparing executive orders to drastically reduce U.S. role in U.N., other international groups.” The New York Times
“The victim of a politically charged shooting at a public speech by Milo Yiannopoulos in Seattle is calling for dialogue and “restorative justice” rather than criminal charges. The victim, whose attorney asked that he not be identified by name, was shot in the stomach while protesting at a speech by the rightwing provocateur at the University of Washington on Friday night.” The Guardian, 25 January 2017
This Is Drivel 