An employee for the conservative Heritage Foundation, who advised in an email against the appointment of any Democrats to President Donald Trump’s bogus “voter fraud” commission, on Wednesday lauded the commission’s work after his “own participation.”
The Heritage employee, Hans von Spakovsky, was later appointed to the panel himself.
“After my own participation as a member, I’m confident that all the members of the Commission are committed to uncovering the truth,” Hans von Spakovsky told TPM by email.
He praised “the good work the Commission is already doing,” and said he sent “a private email in February to private individuals who were not in the administration to express my personal concerns” about the panel.
“I did not send it to (Attorney) General Sessions and was unaware that it had been forwarded to him,” he said. “I have never had any discussions by email or otherwise with General Sessions about the election integrity commission.”
The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) obtained von Spakovsky’s email from the Department of Justice through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
In the message, von Spakovsky claimed “there isn’t a single Democratic official that will do anything other than obstruct any investigation” by the panel and said he was the commission was “being organized in a way that will guarantee its failure.”
Trump named von Spakovsky to the commission in June, a development von Spakovsky apparently viewed as a step in the right direction.
