President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani asked the Department of Homeland Security to seize voting machines but was rebuffed, according to The New York Times.
Giuliani has discussed with Trump the idea of issuing an executive order to seize voting machines to examine them, according to the report.
Giuliani separately called Ken Cunnelli, a top Trump appointee at the Department of Homeland Security, to request that DHS seize the machines.
Cuccinelli explained that the department had no constitutional authority to do so.
Giuliani pushed Cuccinelli to find evidence of his unfounded voter fraud allegations and sought to use the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which has pushed back on the false claims, to do so.
Trump discussed appointing Powell as special counsel:
Trump met with attorney Sidney Powell on Friday to discuss naming her a special counsel to investigate his unfounded voter fraud claims.
Giuliani and others pushed back on the idea, according to the report.
The meeting “became raucous and involved multiple people shouting,” according to the report.
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who urged Trump to impose martial law to “rerun” the election, also participated in the meeting and was asked about his idea by the president.
Powell’s ideas were “shot down by every other Trump adviser present, many of whom repeatedly pointed out that she had yet to back up her claims.”
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone “repeatedly and aggressively” pushed back on the ideas Powell put out.
Barr says no need for special counsel:
Attorney General Bill Barr said during a news conference on Monday that he saw no need for a special counsel to investigate election fraud claims.
"If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was appropriate, I would name one but I haven't and I'm not going to," he said.
Barr previously said that the department has found no evidence of fraud that would alter the result of the election.
