Trump team considered seizing voting machines, Jan…


Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection testifies before the House Rules Committee in December.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP


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J. Scott Applewhite/AP


Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection testifies before the House Rules Committee in December.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

The House panel looking into last January’s attack on the Capitol is investigating a plan that would have directed the secretary of defense to seize voting machines in battleground states, Jan. 6 Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told Face the Nation on Sunday.

“If you are using the military to potentially seize voting machines … the public needs to know,” Thompson said.

Politico reported Friday that an executive order was drafted in December 2020 citing conspiracy theories about election fraud and foreign ownership of Dominion voting machines.

The order, complete with a dotted line ready for Trump’s signature, would have directed the secretary of defense to “seize, collect, retain and analyze all machines, equipment, electronically stored information, and material records required for retention” under a law that relates to preserving election records.

The draft order provided seven days for the secretary of defense to issue an initial assessment, and 60 days for a final assessment, to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It…