Rudy Giuliani called Ken Cuccinelli, second in command of the Department of Homeland Security, Thursday night and asked if DHS could seize voting machines, a source familiar with the confirmed call to Axios.
The state of play: Cuccinelli responded that DHS does not have that authority, the source said.
Why it’s important: The call, first reported by Maggie Haberman of the New York Times is another manifestation of President Trump’s increasingly extreme efforts to contest an election called for President-elect Joe Biden six weeks ago.
On Friday night, as first reported by the New York Times, Trump discussed ordering voting machines and appointing conspiracy election attorney Sidney Powell as a special attorney to inspect the machines.
- Axios reported Saturday afternoon that senior Trump administration officials are increasingly alarmed at what Trump could do to unleash government power to try to overturn the clear election result.
The background story: Giuliani is part of a remnant of Trump’s loyalists who are trying to act on his continued protests over the election. On Saturday, he tweeted again that Biden “did not win.”
- Giuliani, who was briefly hospitalized by COVID-19 earlier this month, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.