Three Democratic senators sent a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn asking why the administration decided to publish the personal information of citizens who voiced concerns about President Trump’s voter fraud commission and questioning whether publication of that information was retribution against those who criticized the panel.
“In today’s digital world, where personal information in the wrong hands can lead to unwanted intrusions into people’s lives, we find it particularly concerning that the White House would intentionally release personal information without express consent and without adequately informing people that their information would be released,” Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote. “Especially so soon after the personally identifying data of nearly every U.S. voter belonging to the Republican National Committee was exposed online.”
The White House published more than 100 pages of emails the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity received from citizens earlier this month, but failed to redact the names, email addresses, addresses, and telephone numbers of those who shared their comments with the commission.
Many of the messages were critical of the voter fraud commission and its vice chairman, Kris Kobach, as well as Kobach’s request to secretaries of state for all publicly available voter roll information.
Others recommended to the commission areas where it should focus its attention, such as improving the federal election process.
In their letter, the trio of Democratic senators asked McGahn for background on why the information was published and what the White House’s policy is for publishing personal information contained in correspondence sent by citizens.
The senators also questioned whether the decision to release the email addresses, names, and other information was done to punish those who criticized the voter fraud commission.
“The decision by the White House to publish the emails commenting on the Commission without redacting personal information demonstrates, at best, a lack of sensitivity to and simple disregard for the very concerns raised in many of emails,” the senators wrote. “At worst, the decision to publish is a vindictive action taken to harm individuals that spoke out against the Commission’s efforts to gather and publish personal data on every American voter.”
The president formed the voter fraud commission in May after arguing millions of people voted illegally for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, causing him to lose the popular vote.
The commissioners met for its inaugural meeting July 19, days before the White House released the trove of emails it received from the public.
