US: Donald Trump considered requesting security agencies to seize 2020 voting machines

The former President of United States (US), Donald Trump was more involved than previously thought in discussions about using federal security agencies to seize voting machines in US states in order to prove electoral fraud in the 2020 presidential elections, the New York Times reported, citing three people familiar with the matter. The reports concerning Trump's involvement in efforts to prove electoral fraud in the 2020 election surfaced after the politician declared at a rally in Texas on Saturday that if he runs for president again and wins, he will pardon Capitol rioters charged with charges related to the storming.

Following the speech, Donald Trump said that the ex-vice president, Mike Pence, had the ability to "overturn" the 2020 election. According to the media agency, Trump decided to address at least three government security departments following his election loss, which would help give the purported evidence of voting fraud. 

Trump wanted DHS to lawfully take control of voting machines 

The ideas on security agency involvement were previously reported to have been incorporated in draft executive orders. Trump instructed his lawyer Rudolph Giuliani to ask the Department of Homeland Security if it could lawfully take control of voting machines in key swing states less than two months after the November election, to which the agency responded that it did not have the authority to do so, according to the newspaper's sources.

Trump accused Dominion Voting Systems, which provided voting technology to Trump, of unlawfully erasing 2.7 million votes for him shortly after the election. The charge was denied by the corporation. Later, Trump claimed that there were significant flaws in the voting machines' operations, distorting the election's true conclusion.

Donald Trump has expressed his intention to run in the forthcoming 47th US presidential elections on numerous occasion. The assertion, however, contradicts Trump's growing troubles as a succession of complicated legal investigations ensnare him, his family, and a number of allies. The investigations, which are taking place in multiple jurisdictions and are looking into everything from suspected fraud and election meddling to Trump's role in the Capitol riots on January 6, are the most severe legal threat he has faced in decades of a contentious public life.

(With inputs from agencies)

Image: AP