Grassley has no expectations for Trump election panel

CEDAR RAPIDS - Vice President Mike Pence kicked off the first meeting of President Donald Trump's electoral integrity commission saying there are 'no preconceived notions or preordained results.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley has no expectations of the commission, which is investigating the president's allegations of widespread voter fraud.

'It's not my commission,” the Iowa Republican told reporters Wednesday.

He does see a need to 'clean up” voter rolls to make sure there is no voter fraud, but Grassley did not speak to the president's allegations that he would have won the 2016 popular vote if not for illegal voting.

Speaking to the first meeting of the Commission on Election Integrity that he created by executive order, Trump called it the 'sacred duty” of the bipartisan panel to find the 'full truth.”

Critics argue the truth is that voter fraud is rare and did not impact the outcome of the election.

There have been isolated cases of irregularities, including a Polk County Trump supporter voting twice. A 28-state voter registration cross-check found about 124 cases - including five in Linn County - of a 'solid match” - individuals suspected of voting in Iowa and another state, according to Kevin Hall, spokesman for the Iowa Secretary of State's Office. In those cases, the name, date of birth and last four numbers of an individual's Social Security number all matched up, indicating it was possible they voted in two different states.

Grassley seemed to support the commission 'if the motivation behind it is to make sure states clean up lists, that people who are dead aren't on the lists ... make sure that the list is a list of people who are alive and able to vote and things of that nature.”

'It seems to me that's what they ought to be trying to accomplish,” Grassley said, 'but the way I see it, I don't know what their goal is because I haven't talked to any of them.”

In other business, Grassley said he has scheduled appearances for Donald Trump Jr. and one-time Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, July 26.

They tentatively had been slated to testify this week about their meeting with a Russian attorney who claimed to have dirt on Hillary Clinton, but their appearances have been delayed by requests from committee Democrats for emails and other documents, as well as difficulty coordinating schedules, said Grassley, who met with Trump Jr.'s attorney.

'I didn't get any pushback, but it was kind of rushy to do that,” he said.

l Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com