Former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb warned that President Donald Trump is using his power to sway the upcoming midterm elections in favor of Republicans after gutting the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission.
Cobb railed against Trump during a Friday appearance on MS NOW after the president fired the last three members of the independent federal commission that helps election administration officials protect the integrity of the proceedings.
“I do think that you can’t look at the termination of the Election Assistance Commission as anything other than another effort by one side to try to take over part of the referee role for the elections,” he told “The Beat” host Ari Melber.
“It’s not the most important federal entity … But it is the entity that provides funds, provides training, provides assistance to the state election officials in preparing for federal elections,” Cobb explained. “They also control certain forms that can be required for states to sign in order to authorize federal funds for these elections. So it’s consequential, but it’s part of a deliberate plan.”
The former White House attorney urged viewers to take a “30,000 feet” view of the developments to see just how “unbalanced” things have become, stating Trump is currently trying to use “hundreds of millions of taxpayer money” to gain control of future elections.
“Now [Trump is] trying to use … multiple federal agencies, ICE, the National Guard and every federal agency that he can get control of with his own people, putting in election deniers, sprinkling them throughout the government to contest these elections,” said Cobb.
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“So, when we talk about the balance now, those forces are already on the field,” Cobb said Friday. “And the other side is relying on the traditional mechanisms that have kept us throughout our history, in combination with the federal courts.”
He continued, “And while the federal courts have been formidable in withstanding the assault on the rule of law posed by this president, I don’t think we can be sanguine about the elections — because he is stacking every card in the deck that he can get his hands on.”