Pretty sure they weren't expecting a favorable public reaction.Vice-President Mike Pence spoke at the first meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity on Wednesday morning.
"We want to hear the voice of the American voter," he said. "Because that's really what this is all about."
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President Donald Trump established the commission with an executive order in May and spoke briefly in the room on Wednesday morning, describing the meeting as "very, very important".
The presidential order stated that the commission would hold public meetings.
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But although its first gathering was live-streamed, it took place on the third floor of a Washington DC secure facility that is off limits to members of the public.
BBC
Needed to fill the room for the optics.The room was filled with people who worked for the White House, ranging from senior aides (Sebastian Gorka and Omarosa Manigault were there) to interns.
Many of the interns had been invited at the last minute, one of them told me.
Technically true.Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit [...] saying the commission was required to hold open meetings under the federal advisory committee act.
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[Committee vice-chair Kansas Secretary of State Kris] Kobach sat at a long table with a wooden gavel in front of him.
He and others discussed voting equipment, voter IDs and US census bureau surveys.
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Many people wanted to attend the meeting but weren't allowed in.
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[Kobach claimed] the meeting had been held in "broad daylight".
Is there anything about this administration that isn't sleazy and underhanded?One of the members, the Heritage Foundation's Hans von Spakovsky, said his mother grew up in Nazi Germany and taught him the value of the democratic process.
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Anyway, said Mr Spakovsky, [the meeting] was not a big deal.
...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
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