Good evening. Im erin burnett. Out front tonight, breaking news, President Donald Trump signing an Executive Order launching an investigation into voter fraud as early as tomorrow. This is according to a Senior Administration official. It comes as trump is speaking out tonight, doubling down moments ago in an interview with abc news on his false claim of Massi Massive voter fraud. Its been called false. Look at the pew reports. I called the author last night and he said there was no evidence then why did he write the report . He said no evidence of voter fraud. Why did he write the report . Hes groveling again. I talk about the reporters that grovel when they want to write something that you want to hear but not necessarily millions of people want to hear or have to hear. Youve launched an investigation. We will to find out. And i will say this, of those votes cast, none of them come to me. Thun of them come to me. They would all be for the other
the investigation would be handled by the Department Of Justice perhaps with the department of homeland security, but its a sign the president is looking into baseless claims that millions voted illegally in the election. On the same day as announcing a new wall on the border, President Trump took time out to call for a federal investigation into a Problem Election Experts maintain doesnt exist. Widespread voter fraud. When you look at the people that are registered, dead, illegal, and two states, some cases maybe three states, we have a lot to look into. He tweet heesd asking for a Major Investigation into Voting Irregularities he claims cost him the popular vote. A probe the white house suggests could target nations biggest states. He insisted to abc news millions of votes could be at stake. You have people that are registered who are dead, who are illegals, who are in two states. You have people registered in two states. Theyre registered in a new york and in new jersey. They vote twice. There are millions of votes in my opinion. Reporter but in fact election records indicate two members of mr. Trumps own team, steve bannon and Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin, were registered in more than one state on election day. White House Press Secretary sean spicer says the probe will not focus solely on the 2016 election. Theres a lot of states that we didnt compete in where thats not necessarily the case. Look at california and new york. Back in december, the president s legal team argued that voter fraud did not affect the final results of the election and their attempts to block Recount Efforts by Green Party Candidate jill stein. White House Counsel don mcgahn wrote an illegal brief at the time, all Available Evidence suggesting the 2016 election was not tainted by fraud. It exists. Its rare. Reporter ohios republican Secretary Of State says he wishes the president would take a more constructive view of the discussi discussion. Over the coming days, bear the responsibility of sharing exactly where their concerns are, providing evidence of that. Reporter while Top Democrats express alarm. I frankly feel very sad about
the president making this claim. I felt sorry for him. I even prayed for him. But then i prayed for the United States of america. Reporter were also learning the president is finished with Interviewing Candidates for the supreme court. Those out there are the top contenders. No surprises according to our sources at the white house. Thank you. Out front, alex padilla, a democrat. Let me ask you, donald trump is looking at the Registration Rolls now, specifically in states that clinton won. The press Secretary Sean Spicer specifically mentioned california. Heres the final numbers from your state as we have them. Clinton won california by 4. 3 million votes. Are you 100 sure nothing would change if trump investigated california . Good evening, erin. And, no, were pretty sure nothings going to change. We have measures in place in california, not just to maintain the integrity of our voter rolls
but how we administer elections as well, whether its the machines that were using to mark ballots, cast ballots, count ballots on election day. Theyre not connected to the internet. No way to have them systematically rigged or hacked. But even the accuracy of the results, theres a random percentage manual tally thats required for each and every county in california to make sure that a hand count matches up with the Machine Count to ensure the accuracy of the election. Nothings going to change. I think the call for an investigation of some sort, weve had yet to see the details. Based on allegations that are not based on evidence or proof or any fact should be cause for concern. Now, one of the things you just heard trump say he wants to look at is people who are registered twice. As we mentioned his Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin is registered in new york and of course in your state, california. Is this a legitimate issue in your view . I think does it happen . Of course, we have two examples from the president s own cabinet and staff here. But it is very, very limited. Should it be cleaned up . Absolutely. But theres an important distipgs here. If somebody is registered in more than one state versus Somebody Casting Ballots in more more than one state. So when the president says millions of illegal ballots cast, millions of illegal votes, thats simply not the case. My larger concern for the longer term is are they setting the stage for changes in policy or changes in law that will go backward on Voting Rights. Weve seen it happen in a number of other states. The purging of voter rolls, elimination of early voting opportunities, voter i. D. Laws that are frankly discriminatory. Thats been tested in the states. I hope thats not a sipe of things to come at a federal level. Before we go, secretary, when you look at that 4. 3 million vote margin, what would be your guess if you went and recounted
the votes on how many would change due to, you know, someone intentionally doing something wrong . Is it zero . It 20 . Is it 1,000 . Do you have any sense of what that would be . Its frankly minuscule. And its not just a wild guess here. You know, we have had a request for recounts in recent years whether its a very closely contested congressional race or a state legislative race or maybe local city council or mayors race. And whenever we get to that recount and going through the very thorough protocols, a couple, a handful, singledigit difference, maybe. Single digits. So it wont make a dent in that sigmar gin that President Trump lost by in california. But thats secondary. All right. Secretary padilla, thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Out front now, the director of the Voting Rights and election project at the nyu school of law, an expert. Dana bash and mark preston. Mira, let me start with you. He wants to investigate the voter rolls in states he lost. Secretary padilla doesnt think it will change it, maybe a handful of votes. In this pew study which everybody is citing, one thing it says is 1. 8 million dead people registered to vote, people registered in multiple states. How big a mess are the voter rolls . Theres no dispute our voter rolls need to be cleaned up. This is something the Brennan Center has been talking about for a decade. People die every day, move every day, change their name because they got married or other reasons. I think the important thing to remember is we need to give resources to Election Administrators in order to be able to correct for these life changes. If we are interested in making a difference, we need reforms like universal automatic voefter registration. Youre acknowledging the point, which is important. When theres 1. 8 million dead
people on the rolls, thats a problem. Anyone looking at this subjectively would say that should change. Thats not the same thing as saying people are posing as dead people and coming in and voting. Its not new. The part im concerned about is this conflation of the system is being rigged to now we have all these undocumented people voting to our voter rolls are being messed up. If were actually looking to make sure that we have the best democracy in the world, that means we need to invest in the kind of reforms that will give us the best democracy in the world. When trump says fraud, people voting twice in two different states, that you dont see evidence happening. Those registered in new york and new jersey, theyre not going to two states in one day to vote. Extraordinarily rare. The penalties are high. It is an incredibly inefficient way to steal an election. Theres no common rational actor that will feel like they will be able to accomplish Something Like that in a meaningful way. What i worry about is this conversation is a distraction against the kind of reforms we
actually do need. We need to make sure voters have free, fair, and accessible elections, make sure that everybody that is eligible to be registered gets on the rolls, make sure that people have access to vote on election day. So dana, george w. Bush also investigated voter fraud. It was a fiveyear process at one point. The New York Times at the end of five years said 120 people were charged with electionrelated crimes. Hundreds of millions of votes, 120 people charged, i think 86 convicted. If this is the outcome for donald trump, does he win or lose . Well, i think the country wins by seeing that voter fraud is not the way that donald trump says he fears it is. But certainly for donald trump personally and politically, it would certainly be a lot of egg on his face. But i think the bigger question, assuming that the president does ask for and pushes for theJustice Department to investigate this is how thats even going to work because i was just talking to somebody reminding me that Jason Chey Fitz in charge of the House Oversight committee to make sure the Executive Branch is not doing anything wrong, if it were a democratic president saying im going to use my Justice Department to investigate broadly whether there was voter fraud without any evidence, to spend Taxpayer Money on it without any evidence that would presume that the Justice Department can actually prosecute, then the Oversight Committee would be going bananas. Understandably and rightly so. But today jason said its not my purview, its up to the administration. Its a big question how and who is going to do this investigation that the president says he wants. Mark, i have a tape to show you. This is billy bush and donald trump on access hollywood. Before your jaw drops, it is not
that tape. Oi found another tape. This is donald trump taking billy bush to vote with him in 2004. Trump goes to three Polling Places trying to find the right spot, finally fills out an absentee ballot. Play the clip. Where are we going . Theres no line at all here. Do i have to go to a different place . Hello, gorgeous. How are you . Hello, how are you. Nice seeing you. How you doing . Make sure theres no cheating here, right . Hes not in my book either. Hi, fellas. How are you . Do you have my name here . His name is not on these rolls. There will be a huge combustion in here. Im going to fill out the absentee ballot. And i just voted. At least you can say the trumpster doesnt give up,
right . Youve got to vote. Mark, okay, humorous, but he couldnt even vote once, let alone twice or more as he is now accusing so many people of doing. Theres a bigger issue here. No doubt that tape from 2004 give where we are right now has to be terribly embarrassing for donald trump although i dont know that he necessarily gets embarrassed. We talk about how hes undermining our democratic process right now. You have democratic and republican secretaries of state, experts in election law all coming to the same conclusion that the bottom line is donald trump shouldnt be safing this. It doesnt send a good message across the country let alone the world. But take it to the world stage. Theres a parallel problem, i think a much bigger problem. When you see donald trump out there making this case about false facts, lies about this, if you are a foreign leader and you
are negotiating a trade deal with donald trump, if you are talking about sending troops into another country, if a Congressional Republican or democrat trying to get legislation done and you see donald trump being stuck in on this one issue, knowing full well that this is it is not correct, you have to wonder to yourself, can i trust donald trump . I think thats something he needs to rectify. To button it up, i spoke to a republican operative in town a few hours ago. This is somebody whos brought in, known as a fixer, and i said how do you think things are going so far . He said to me, its a Roller Coaster right now. Donald trump can actually get a lot of things done if he gets out of his own way. Thank you all. Next, President Trump saying torture works. So is the United States about to return to waterboarding . The practice considered a war crime. And the death of Mary Tyler Moore this afternoon. A special look at the groundbreaking career of one of americas most loved stars. And our special series continues on the mexico border. Tonight were live in arizona. This is Drone Footage right now
youre looking at of a border fence and nearby private citizens are are armed and on patr patrol. Ive been called everything in the book. Ive been called a domestic extremist. This is my body of proof. Proof of less joint pain. And clearer skin. This is my body of proof that i can fight Psoriatic Arthritis with humira. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the number 1 prescribed biologic for Psoriatic Arthritis. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Want more proof . Ask your rheumatologist about humira. Humira. Whats your body of proof . Does it work . Does torture work . And if answer was yes, absolutely. I want to do everything within the bound of what youre allowed to do legally, but do i feel it works . Absolutely. Elise lavin, obviously a very significant statement. President trump opening the door on an issue that frankly had been resolved which is the fact that the u. S. As of tonight no longer water boards. Absolutely. There was legislation passed in 2015 which limits u. S. Officials to the Interrogation Techniques that are only allowed in the army field manual, and that bans tactics such as waterboarding when a prisoner is subjected to that kind of controlled drowning. We lost that shot but this would be an incredible stunning change in u. S. Policy. Out front, bob baer, former cia operative and jeffrey lord, former reagan white house
political director. Bob, you heard elise there as she was giving the overall headline that this is now a matter of subtle law, right . This passed. Trump is saying tonight hes spoken to people at the highest level of intelligence they agree with him that waterboarding and torture work. Does it . Not according to the Senate Intelligence committee, it doesnt work, ineffective, in fact causes people to be more radical, groups to be more radical using it. Ive seen no good case that anyones used waterboarding since 2001 and 2002 that it saved american lives, and thats according to the documents, internal cia reports from the inspector general. And its flatout illegal, the u. N. Geneva convention. As mccain said, the law is the law and we cant do it. Jeffrey, bobs been on the ground, there in the field. Which decidedly i have not. I would say, though, that as a civilian listening to rob oneill, the man who killed osama bin laden, he ip cysts it does work and thats what enabled him to get to osama bin laden. The main issue here is that the president of the United States, the commander in chief, whoever that may be, he talks with people and gets conflicting advice. One adviser says a is the best course, another will say z. Its up to the president to make that decision. And then history will hold him accountable. So this is Donald Trumps moment as president , all his predecessors have had moments like this with one issue