Page 8A
NATION/WORLD
East Oregonian
Saturday, January 28, 2017
AP FACT CHECK
New Trump salvo on voter fraud lacks evidence
By PAUL J. WEBER
Associated Press
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
President Donald Trump signs an executive order on
extreme vetting during an event at the Pentagon in
Washington, Friday.
Trump orders strict
new refugee screening,
citing terrorists
By KEN THOMAS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
Setting a hard-line tone on
national security, President
Donald Trump on Friday
ordered strict new screening
for refugees to keep “radical
Islamic terrorists” out of the
United States and alternated
tough talk with kind words in
his diplomatic standoff with
Mexico.
Trump traveled to the
Pentagon where he joined
Defense Secretary James
Mattis for the signing of an
executive action to bring
sweeping changes to the
nation’s refugee policies and
put in motion his plans to
build up the nation’s military.
“We want to ensure that
we are not admitting into
our country the very threats
our soldiers are fighting
overseas,” he said. “We only
want to admit those into our
country who will support our
country and love deeply our
people.”
During
his
election
campaign against Hillary
Clinton, Trump pledged to
put in place “extreme vetting”
procedures to screen people
coming to the U.S. from
countries with terrorism ties.
The White House did not
immediately release details
on the order Trump signed,
but a draft of the order called
for suspending the issuing
of visas to people from Iran,
Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan,
Syria and Yemen for at least
30 days.
Sen.
Jeff
Merkley
(D-Ore.) was among the
critics of the action, calling it
a “smokescreen for religious
discrimination” which goes
against U.S. values and
constitutional principles.
“Widows and orphans are
not threats to our national
security,” Merkley said in
a statement. “Muslim Iraqi
interpreters put their lives at
risk and have saved the lives
of innumerable American
service members. They have
proven their loyalty. The
true threat to our national
security is surrendering the
American values we stand
for on the world stage and
allowing ISIS to recruit more
supporters through the false
narrative that America is at
war with Islam.”
Joined earlier in the day at
the White House by British
Prime Minister Theresa May,
Trump reaffirmed the United
States’ “special relationship”
with Great Britain.
But he was also asked
about more contentious
issues, including his recent
statements that torture “does
work” in prying information
out of terror suspects. Giving
ground, he said his defense
secretary’s opposition would
override his own belief.
Hours later he stood at the
Pentagon as Mattis, the
retired general, was sworn in
as the military’s chief.
Trump was also pressed
on whether he would revert
back to Bush-era use of
torture, in the news since The
Associated Press and other
news organizations obtained
copies of a draft executive
order signaling sweeping
changes to U.S. interrogation
and detention policy.
Trump said he would
defer to the views of
Mattis, who has questioned
the effectiveness of such
practices as waterboarding,
which simulates drowning.
“He has stated publicly
that he does not necessarily
believe in torture or water-
boarding, or however you
want to define it. ... I don’t
necessarily agree. But I
would tell you that he will
override because I’m giving
“Widows and
orphans are not
threats to our
national security.”
— Sen. Jeff Merkley,
D-Ore.
him that power. He’s an
expert,” Trump said.
The draft order, which the
White House said was not
official, also would reverse
Obama’s effort to close the
military detention center at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — a
place Trump has said he
wants to fill up “with bad
dudes.”
The draft also requests
recommendations
on
whether the U.S. should
reopen CIA detention facili-
ties outside the United States.
Critics said the clandestine
sites have marred America’s
image on the world stage
Trump held firm Friday on
another controversy — trade
and illegal immigration from
Mexico. He told reporters at
a joint news conference with
May that he had a “very good
call” with Mexican President
Enrique Pena Nieto earlier
in the day, but he reaffirmed
his belief that Mexico has
“outnegotiated and beat us to
a pulp” on trade — and that
would change.
“We’re no longer going
to be the country that doesn’t
know what it’s doing,” he
declared a day after the
Mexican leader canceled
his visit to Washington in
response to Trump’s plans to
build a border wall and have
Mexico pay for it.
AUSTIN, Texas —
President Donald Trump on
Friday pressed his widely
debunked claims of massive
voter fraud by encouraging
the work of a Texas man
who has offered no evidence
to support his claim that
millions of people illegally
voted in the 2016 election.
Trump tweeted: “Look
forward to seeing the final
results of VoteStand. Gregg
Phillips and crew say at least
3,000,000 votes were illegal.
We must do better!”
The tweet came less than
an hour after a CNN inter-
view with Phillips, who has
refused to substantiate his
claims since he made them
days after the November
election.
Phillips tweeted that a
Houston-based group, True
the Vote, “will lead the anal-
ysis” of widespread voter
fraud. But the founder of
that group said Friday it has
not confirmed that millions
voted illegally.
Here’s more about the
man Trump is cheering on,
and about True the Vote.
WHO IS PHILLIPS?
Phillips is a former Texas
state official whose brief stint
as deputy executive director
at the Texas Health and
Human Services Commis-
sion drew media scrutiny
over privatization
efforts. He went
on
to
found
AutoGov, a health
care
software
contractor whose
clients
include
state governments,
and created a
mobile app called
VoteStand
that
allows people to Phillips
report suspicious
voting activity.
Phillips also previously
worked as a state health offi-
cial in Mississippi, resigning
under fire from lawmakers.
A state panel concluded
that he stepped down as
executive director of the
Mississippi’s Department of
Human Services on the same
day he went to work for a
company that he had given a
state contract.
“Mr. Phillips’s actions
create the appearance of
impropriety, facilitating an
erosion of the public trust,”
according to the panel’s
1995 report.
After the 2016 election,
Phillips tweeted that his
“completed
analysis”
of
voter
registrations
concluded that the “number
of
non-citizen
votes
exceeded 3 million.” He has
rebuffed media requests for
evidence, saying since Nov.
15 that he would
release it broadly
to the public, but
he hasn’t. He
suggested Friday
that he might do
so in a few more
months.
Upset
that
Democrat Hillary
Clinton defeated
him in the popular
vote, Trump has
repeatedly blamed that result
on illegally cast or counted
votes but offered no substan-
tiation. All 50 states and the
District of Columbia have
completed their election
results with no reports of
the kind of widespread fraud
that Trump alleges.
WHAT ABOUT TRUE
THE VOTE?
Phillips is a board
member of True the Vote,
a conservative group that
has challenged the validity
of voter rolls in numerous
states. Tax records from
2014 show the group
reported raising nearly $1.2
million and having an esti-
mated 50,000 volunteers.
It was founded by Cath-
erine Engelbrecht, who also
started the tea party group
the King Street Patriots.
That organization drew
national attention in 2010
after sending hundreds of
observers to Houston-area
polling stations, spurring
complaints of intimidation
from minority rights groups.
Engelbrecht said Friday
that she believes millions
of people illegally voted
in the last election but also
acknowledged “there is no
way to confirm that at this
point.” She said the group
still lacks voter files from
many states but hopes to
begin releasing findings by
late spring.
King Street Patriots is in a
legal battle over Democratic
efforts to release the identity
of its donors. The case is
set to go before the Texas
Supreme Court next month.
WHAT’S NEXT?
White House press secre-
tary Sean Spicer said this
week that Trump will take
executive action to launch
an investigation into voting
fraud. The Republican who
leads the House Oversight
Committee, Rep. Jason
Chaffetz of Utah, said he’s
seen no evidence of fraud
in the 2016 election and his
committee will not investi-
gate it. Chaffetz, however,
said Trump is free to order
the Justice Department to
investigate the issue.
BRIEFLY
Anti-abortion
groups hold
triumphant rally
after Obama years
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The politically
ascendant anti-abortion
movement gathered Friday
for a triumphant rally on
the National Mall, rejoicing
at the end of an eight-year
presidency that participants
said was dismissive of their
views.
Vice President Mike
Pence told the crowd at
the March for Life that
anti-abortion policies
were a top priority of the
new administration, and
President Donald Trump
tweeted that the rally had
his “full support.”
The March for Life
is held every year in
Washington to mark the
anniversary of the 1973
Supreme Court decision
legalizing abortion. While
no official crowd estimates
were available, the turnout
was clearly larger than in
recent years, when abortion
opponents had less political
clout. Many thousands
huddled in the shadow of
the Washington Monument
and stood in long lines
outside security checkpoints
made necessary by Pence’s
appearance.
“We’ve come to a
historic moment in the
cause for life,” said Pence,
the first vice president to
address the rally. “Life is
winning in America.”
Pence said ending
taxpayer-funded abortion
rebound in the coming
months.
The gross domestic
product grew at an annual
rate of just 1.9 percent in
the October-December
period, a slowdown from
3.5 percent growth in the
third quarter, the Commerce
Department reported
Friday.
For all of 2016, the
economy grew 1.6 percent.
It was the worst showing in
five years since a similar 1.6
percent gain in 2011. GDP
grew 2.6 percent in 2015,
and since the recession
ended in mid-2009, growth
has averaged a weak 2.1
percent.
and choosing a Supreme
Court justice in the mold of
the late Antonin Scalia — a
conservative Catholic who
opposed abortion — are
among the administration’s
most important goals.
Economic growth
slowed in Q4
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The U.S. economy
lost momentum in the
final three months of 2016
as a downturn in exports
temporarily depressed
activity. But there were
hopeful signs in housing
and business investment
that the economy will
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