Dem member of Trump’s voter fraud commission sues panel

Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap (D) is suing President Trump’s voter fraud commission, of which he is also a member.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Democrat claims he has been blocked from receiving commission documents necessary “to fulfill the oath he took and the obligations to which he committed when he joined the panel.”

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Trump formed the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in February to investigate his unsubstantiated claims that between three and five million people voted illegally in the 2016 presidential election.

Dunlap said the lawsuit is an “action of last resort.” He claims the commission has violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) by preventing certain members of the commission from substantively participating in the work it does, as well as from accessing documents made available to some members and prepared for or by the commission.

FACA requires commission membership to be “fairly balanced in terms of the points of view represented” and all materials, “which were made available to or prepared for or by” the commission, to be available to all commission members.

“Since the Commission’s meeting on September 12, 2017, Secretary Dunlap has received no information or updates from Commission staff or leadership about ongoing active research, inquiries for research requests, documents for consideration at future meetings, or any information about the Commission’s plans to hold another meeting,” the lawsuit claims.

“He has received no communications regarding the substantive work of the Commission.”

The lawsuit, however, said hundreds of documents exist, including communications between commissioners; communications between commissioners and commission staff; communications between commissioners and third parties; and research documents and draft reports.

The lawsuit names Commission Chair Vice President Pence, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who serves as vice chair, and the commissioner’s designated federal officer Andrew Kossack as defendants along with the General Services Administration, the Executive Office of the President and the Executive Office of the Vice President.