Conservative Matt Schlapp got trounced on Jake Tapper's "The Lead" Thursday when he tried to claim voter fraud was a significant enough problem that it warranted the millions the administration intends to spend investigating it.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating a commission to address voter fraud, a non-existent problem Republicans use as an excuse to pass laws that ultimately disenfranchise legitimate voters, who are often times Democratic. The order would guarantee taxpayer dollars would be spent on the investigation. After the election, Trump alleged that he only lost the popular vote because three million people voted illegally, a claim for which he has no evidence.
"Kris Kobach is a controversial figure, someone who has been pushing certain kinds of voter I.D. laws that Democrats say lead to voter suppression," Washington Post reporter Abby Phillips noted about the commission's leader. "So, whether real or not, putting someone that controversial in charge of something that could end up looking like an effort to push certain kinds of voter I.D. laws will create political controversy going down the road. This is something that will only extend the issue at a time when he should probably let it fall and move on to things that are more relevant to his agenda especially the economy."
Tapper noted that former President George W. Bush had a similar commission that addressed the 2000 election but that it was a bipartisan commission headed by former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. "This commission doesn't appear to be in that same spirit," Tapper suppressed a chuckle.
"I know him and I know of controversies and one thing I would like to correct is that the funding will have to get approved by Congress, and Congress can block the funding," Schlapp said. "And when it comes to the question of illegal voting, I think it's something we should all be against and if there are facts. It's interesting, Reince Priebus was the RNC chair for a long time. He's sitting in the White house. The RNC prosecuted all these cases and there were dozens of cases of illegal voting--"
"Dozens of cases of illegal voting?!" Michelle Cottle, a contributing editor at The Atlantic, said cutting in.
"Yeah, more than dozens, actually," Schlapp replied.
"He's claiming millions," Cottle noted.
"I'm just telling you what there is," Schlapp said.
"No one disputes that there are dozens of cases of illegal voting," Tapper clarified. "The question is, are there millions?"
Schlapp also said that he wondered about conversations between former FBI director James Comey and former President Barack Obama about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails. He seemed to allege there was some ethical breach if such a conversation took place. However, Cottle noted the major difference is that Hillary Clinton is not the president. Trump, on the other hand, is the president and seemed to have used the power of his office to demand answers.
Watch the full discussion below:
WATCH: Matt Schlapp gets owned after claims... by sarahburris
