Filenews 22 January 2022
A month after Donald Trump's defeat (Reuters photo, above) in the 2020 presidential election, a draft presidential executive order was drawn up that ordered the Secretary of Defence to proceed with the confiscation of all electronic voting machines, across the U.S., the news website Politico revealed yesterday Friday.
To be hooked to power
The explosive documentary, which comes from the National Archives, brings to light the extreme measures that the Republican president was willing to take to cling to power.
"As of today, the Defence Minister will confiscate, collect, maintain and analyse all the machinery, all the equipment, all the information stored electronically" for the presidential elections, says the three-page draft executive order, which was never signed.
The decree, dated December 16, 2020, also provided for the appointment of a special prosecutor to conduct an investigation into allegations of fraud following the seizure of the machines.
To justify these measures, the document lists a series of conspiracy theories – which have been repeatedly refuted – about piracy in machines.
It is not known by whom the draft executive presidential decree was drafted, but the Politico report notes that its content is broadly in line with the recommendations of Sidney Powell, a former member of Mr. Trump's team of lawyers.
In the special committee of inquiry
The draft is among the 750 documents handed over to the House of Representatives special committee of inquiry investigating the attack on the Federal Capitol, following the Supreme Court's rejection of an appeal by Donald Trump to prevent their disclosure.
The committee did not respond when the French Agency tried to ask it for comment.
The committee, made up mostly of Democratic lawmakers, is trying to verify whether and what responsibilities the former president and his entourage had for the attack by his supporters on the seat of Congress on January 6, 2021.
A year after he left power, Donald Trump insists he was "robbed" of victory in the 2020 election.
According to polls, more than half of Republican voters believe they are right.
