President Donald Trump’s commission to look into his claims of illegal voting in the 2016 election may have to start pretty close to home.
Jeffrey Gerrish, President Donald Trump’s pick for deputy U.S. trade representative, may have voted illegally in the 2016 election, the New York Times and Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The New York Times first reported, citing three unnamed Democratic congressional aides, that the Senate Finance Committee was briefed on the matter Tuesday.
Gerrish moved from Virginia to Maryland in 2016 but voted in November in the former, more competitive state, the New York Times reported, citing records.
The Washington Post confirmed the New York Times’ report, citing an unnamed senior administration official familiar with the matter.
Trump’s pledge to investigate his unsubstantiated claims of massive illegal voting was one of his signature campaign promises. After winning the White House, Trump nevertheless continued to claim that millions of people voted illegally in the election that he won, costing him the popular vote (though he won in the Electoral College).
He established a commission to investigate illegal voting in May. As of August, the panel faced seven pending lawsuits.
The senior administration official told the Washington Post that Gerrish lived in Virginia with his family for more than 18 years before the move, retained a Virginia driver’s license at the time of the election and “understood there was a grace period for switching voter registration but did not know the length.”
The New York Times’ report also cited an unnamed administration official who gave the same explanation.
As both reports noted, Virginia law allows a 30-day grace period for voters who have moved out of the state to cast their ballot only in a presidential election, though Gerrish did not appear to qualify for that exception, having sold a Virginia home — and purchased one in Maryland — in July 2016, four months before the election.
The White House referred TPM’s request for comment to the U.S. trade representative. In a statement via spokesperson Emily Davis, U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer said he “fully” supports Gerrish’s nomination.
Prosecute the motherfucker.
NO QUARTER.
Anyone can see this is a simple misunderstanding.
It’s only fraud when Democrats do it.
I would love to see some rich guy make a bet for anyone in the GOP. For every time you successfully vote more than once in a given election, you get $100K per vote. But for each time you fail, you have to pay $100K and all proceeds go to Planned Parenthood.
I wonder how many Republicans would take that bet?
Shocking, just shocking!
But then…who better to be able to look into voter fraud than a perp himself?
If voting multiple times is so easy, how come only Democrats are accused of doing it? Are they the only ones smart enough to pull it off? Why doesn’t the GOP do it as well?