President Donald Trump is likely to try to derail the electoral process this year — but just as likely to hit hard opposition every step of the way, Michael Waldman of the Brennan Center for Justice told MS NOW's Nicolle Wallace on Thursday's edition of "Deadline: White House."
This follows reporting that Trump just received a 17-page memo from his allies outlining how he could declare a state of emergency to seize election equipment.
"I mean, Michael, it seems that the immunity decision protects him from being criminally prosecuted for doing that, but it doesn't make that which is unconstitutional lawful," said Wallace. "What is in the system? What remains in the system as an antibody to protect against his unconstitutional conduct?"
"Well, you're exactly right," said Waldman. "The Constitution is very clear. States run elections. Congress has a legitimate role in passing national legislation. Presidents have no role."
"And already this year, as we've seen, this campaign, to try to undermine the midterms, courts have stepped up," said Waldman. "He had an executive order last year purporting to take personal control of elections and require people to produce a passport, not even a birth certificate, but a passport. And it was blocked by the courts, which said it was illegal. There's no legal basis for any of these things that are being reported, and this notional executive action claiming Chinese influence in 2020, it seems to be based on sort of whackadoodle theories by election deniers with no basis in reality."
"Courts are willing to step up and states have a role as well. They run the elections," Waldman added. "So I do think that if we are aware, if we're calling out these efforts and if we all do what we need to do, we can have secure and free and fair and hopefully uneventful, uneventful elections in November."
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