Trump disbands controversial voter fraud commission

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order to disband his voter fraud commission, slamming multiple states' refusal to cooperate on submitting voter data.

"Despite substantial evidence of voter fraud, many states have refused to provide the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity with basic information relevant to its inquiry," said Trump in a statement issued by the White House.

The president said he didn't want to waste taxpayers' money fighting with these states over their voter data.

"Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense, today I signed an executive order to dissolve the commission, and have asked the Department of Homeland Security to review these issues and determine next courses of action," said Trump.

U.S. mainstream media outlets have widely criticized the commission as a panel to solve a practically non-existent problem.

Various U.S. states, citing their own voter privacy laws, refused to provide data on their voters without an act of Congress, leaving the panel paralyzed last fall.

Since the 2016 presidential election, Trump has repeatedly claimed that up to 3 million people voted illegally, resulting in his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton's advantage in the popular vote. He then set up the commission in May. Enditem