A secret 17-page draft has been circulating among pro-Trump activists and the White House that would potentially give President Donald Trump the path to "unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting," a The Washington Post report revealed Thursday.
The draft executive order claims that China interfered in the 2020 election, which would justify Trump declaring a national emergency, according to The Post. Trump has pushed a scheme to mandate voter ID and launch a ban on mail-in ballots for the midterm elections.
The pro-Trump activists tell The Post they expect the draft will play a role in Trump's "promised executive order." The White House has reportedly not commented.
Florida lawyer Peter Ticktin, who attended the New York Military Academy with the president, has been advocating for the draft executive order. In 2022, he was part of Trump's legal team in the unsuccessful lawsuit that included accusations that Democrats had colluded to damage his reputation by alleging that Trump conspired with Russia in his 2016 campaign.
“Under the Constitution, it’s the legislatures and states that really control how a state conducts its elections, and the president doesn’t have any power to do that,” Ticktin told The Post.
“But here we have a situation where the president is aware that there are foreign interests that are interfering in our election processes,” Ticktin added. “That causes a national emergency where the president has to be able to deal with it.”