Kobach Blasts Dems’ ‘Pathetic’ Attempt To Link C’Ville, Bogus Voter Fraud Panel

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach speaks to supporters in launching his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor, Thursday, June 8, 2017, at an events center in Lenexa, Kan. Kobach has advised Presiden... Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach speaks to supporters in launching his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor, Thursday, June 8, 2017, at an events center in Lenexa, Kan. Kobach has advised President Donald Trump on immigration and election fraud issues and is vice chairman of a presidential commission on voter fraud. (AP Photo/John Hanna) MORE LESS
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Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state and vice chair of President Trump’s bogus “election integrity” commission, is not happy with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) attempt to tie the panel to Trump’s failure to swiftly condemn white nationalists in the wake of Charlottesville.

“It’s a pathetic, partisan attempt to wrap Charlottesville around every issue he can think of,” Kobach told Roll Call in an interview published Monday. “It’s complete nonsense.”

Schumer on Thursday called for Trump to disband the voter fraud commission, saying that by doing so the President would gain Demcorats’ support for a September government funding bill. In a Medium post, Schumer drew a line from the commission to the violence in Charlottesville.

“The Ku Klux Klan and its sympathizers at all levels of government denied black Americans the right to vote for decades. Today, voting rights are once again under assault,” Schumer wrote, arguing that the commission is a “ruse” meant to “disenfranchise voters.”

“This is how the appalling failure to use the right words and stand up to hate in the aftermath of Charlottesville is made real in the form of policy; they are two edges of the same sword,” the senator added.

Kobach said that Schumer’s claim that the commission’s request for state voter roll data was an attempt to intimidate voters is “false.”

“Usually he makes an intelligent point and doesn’t say something ridiculous,” he told Roll Call. “This was surprising. Because I expect him to be partisan, but I also, in the past, have expected him to be smart. And this was poorly informed and ridiculous in trying to tie photo I.D. laws — or the commission — to Charlottesville.”

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