Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin pledged to aggressively pursue voter fraud cases at the White House complex on Friday after President Donald Trump revived debunked election theories in his primetime speech Thursday night.
Trump used the primetime address to the nation to elevate his yearslong push to raise doubts about the legitimacy of U.S. elections and dispute his 2020 loss — this time, to justify his push to pass a strict voter ID bill. His allegations of interference and influence didn’t include key context. Nor did he produce evidence that votes had been manipulated or that the election outcome had been altered.
Here’s the latest:
Trump’s envoy greeted by protests in Venice on latest stop of super yacht diplomacy tour
The billionaire U.S. ambassador to Italy was met by protests when he arrived in Venice on Friday aboard his luxury yacht as part of a coastal diplomacy tour marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Hospitality mogul Tilman Fertitta’s arrival represents an unwelcome display of American wealth and influence for many Italians at a time when they see the Trump administration as upending the post-World War II international order.
The so-called Coastal Diplomacy 250 tour of 13 Italian coastal regions on a super yacht is intended to celebrate “our shared history, our economic partnership, and the cultural bonds that make the U.S.-Italy relationship so special,” Fertitta said in a social media post.
In Venice, many of the same groups that protested the wedding last year of Jeff Bezos to Lauren Sanchez are mobilizing against Fertitta’s arrival aboard the 117-meter (384-foot) luxury yacht, Boardwalk, which features two helipads, a pair of swimming pools and a fully equipped spa and gym.
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Mullin won’t comment on ICE shootings and says arrests are up
The Homeland Security secretary said during a news conference that he hadn’t heard about allegations of violent behavior against a deportation officer who shot and killed a Colombian man in Maine earlier this week.
Relatives of the officer told The Associated Press he struggled with serious mental health issues, had a history of violent behavior and never should have been given a badge and gun.
Mullin said the shooting was being investigated and he’d allow the investigation to go forward.
“We understand that it’s being investigated, and we’ll allow the investigation to go through. That’s all I’m going to say about that,” said Mullin.
He wouldn’t comment on whether the officer was on leave but said that was standard practice in the aftermath of any shooting.
DHS secretary pledges to aggressively chase voter fraud cases
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said if anyone votes illegally in the upcoming midterm elections, “we will hunt you down, we will find you and we will prosecute you.”
In a White House briefing doubling down on Trump’s primetime election claims, Mullin also threatened fines, penalties or prison time for state election officials who refuse to hand over sensitive voter data to DHS.
He said states that don’t elect to use DHS’s recently updated tool for identifying noncitizen voters, will become “a priority” for investigations.
The comments come as a federal judge has blocked the use of DHS’s updated system, citing voter privacy and the fact that it can result in the wrongful purging of eligible voters.
Why American elections are so complicated — and secure
In his speech to the nation Thursday evening, President Trump said Americans deserve secure elections, and he claimed to be using federal authority to prevent them from being “stolen.”
In fact, one of the strongest security features of U.S. elections is the fact that they aren’t conducted at the federal level. America votes in more than 10,000 different election jurisdictions, each with different rules set by state and sometimes local governments.
That structure makes the nation’s elections extraordinarily complicated — and also safe from widespread fraud. And when misconduct does happen — rarely — security protocols frequently catch it.
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