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A series of developments involving President Trump's persistent claims of widespread illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens in the 2020 election, including reports from aligned think tanks and their impact on upcoming midterm election discourse.
The Commerce Department removed language banning political interference from its scientific integrity policy in an unannounced Aug. 19 revision, NPR reported Monday. The change applies to the parent agency of the Census Bureau and arrives one day after the bureau issued a separate unusual report on noncitizen voting.
NPR reported Monday that a think tank it describes as aligned with President Trump has ties to a Census Bureau report on noncitizen voting. The president, according to NPR, is using the report to renew claims of widespread voting by non-U.S. citizens in the 2020 election — claims the outlet described as false.
A seven-page, unauthored Census Bureau analysis on noncitizen voting in the 2020 election that President Trump is using to claim widespread illegal voting was prepared in part by individuals affiliated with the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-aligned think tank, according to NPR. Election and data experts are questioning the report's methodology and its place among disputed federal figures on noncitizen voting ahead of the fall midterm elections.