President Trump speaks during a reception for House and Senate leaders at the White House on Jan. 23. (Susan Walsh/Associated Press)

President Trump’s flurry of new orders and reported plans to further reshape national policy drew strong rebukes Wednesday from lawmakers in both parties.

Democrats responded sharply to Trump’s plans to sign executive orders that would jump-start construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and halt visas to visitors from some countries — moves that are expected as soon as Wednesday, according to White House officials.

There is also bipartisan criticism for a White House draft proposal to allow the CIA to reopen overseas “black site” prisons and Trump’s plan to ask “for a major investigation” into his unproven accusations of widespread voter fraud.

[Trump seeks ‘major investigation’ into unsupported claims of voter fraud]

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called Trump’s focus on voter fraud “really strange” — especially because his own lawyers disputed allegations of ballot irregularities when Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein challenged the results in some states last fall.

(Reuters)

“I frankly feel very sad for the president making this claim,” Pelosi added. “I felt sorry for him. I even prayed for him — but then I prayed for the United States of America.”

Pelosi spoke as Congress wrapped up a short workweek in order to attend separate party strategy sessions outside Washington.

Republicans are decamping to Philadelphia, where they are scheduled to spend the next two days planning and meeting with Trump, Vice President Pence and British Prime Minister Theresa May, among others. Top GOP leaders are likely to weigh in on Trump’s plans later Wednesday. Senate Democrats are headed to Shepherdstown, W.Va. for a similar closed-door retreat. Pelosi and House Democrats will meet in Baltimore next month.

The White House draft order to reverse a ban on black site prisons doesn’t immediately reopen them or allow interrogators to use waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” that are banned by law. But the order would allow the CIA to begin reviewing current policy and techniques.

Such talk earned a swift response from an old Trump foil, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was tortured and held captive during the Vietnam War.

“The President can sign whatever executive orders he likes. But the law is the law. We are not bringing back torture in the United States of America,” he said in a statement.

McCain noted that Mike Pompeo, the new CIA director, vowed during his recent confirmation hearing to “comply with the law that applies the Army Field Manual’s interrogation requirements to all U.S. agencies, including the CIA.” So did retired Gen. James Mattis, the new defense secretary, McCain said.

McCain is a longtime critic of using torture or other enhanced techniques to interrogate war prisoners or detainees. McCain’s personal experience with the issue earned Trump’s attention during his presidential campaign, when he said that the Arizona senator was a “war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” Those comments were condemned by Republican leaders, but did not blunt Trump’s ascendancy.

Democrats also warned against reviving a controversial cornerstone of former president George W. Bush’s national security policy.

“This would be a step backward, and I’m not alone in thinking that the path he’s going down is wrong,” Pelosi said at a news conference.

“Don’t ask me, just ask John McCain and others,” she added. “Reverting to that again does not support our values, but also endangers our people, whether it’s from a security standpoint, the intelligence community or the military. It’s wrong and I hope he will listen to even some Republican leaders on this subject.”

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that revisiting the creation of black sites or permitting the use of enhanced interrogation techniques would be a “tragic mistake for the country to revisit and make the same mistakes all over again.”

“These are colossal mistakes that will cost us relationships in the long run,” he said at an event hosted by the liberal Center for American Progress.

On immigration and border security, Trump is widely expected to order the end of a federal program providing temporary legal protections to the children of undocumented immigrants. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), and a companion policy protecting thousands of adults, have faced legal challenges and formed the basis of much of Trump’s attacks on Obama administration-era immigration policies.

He may also potentially bar for 30 days the issuance of U.S. visas to people from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — all Muslim-majority countries — until new visa procedures are developed.

[Trump to sign executive orders enabling construction of proposed border wall and targeting sanctuary cities]

Members of both parties have been anticipating Trump’s immigration plans for weeks, and in the past several days they mostly have withheld comment. Pelosi said Wednesday that she wouldn’t respond to “rumors” of his plans.

Anticipating that Trump will end DACA, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) have introduced legislation that would provide similar protections to people protected by the program. The Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy Act, or BRIDGE Act, is believed to have bipartisan support across Capitol Hill.

Trump’s calls for a broader investigation into voter fraud also perplexed Republicans and Democrats alike on Wednesday.

The White House has yet to provide details on a probe, but Trump said in back-to-back tweets that the investigation would cover “those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal” and “those registered to vote who are dead (and many for a long time).” Trump used all capitals — VOTER FRAUD — for emphasis.

“Depending on results,” Trump tweeted, “we will strengthen up voting procedures!”

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he believes that the “prime jurisdiction” to investigate voter fraud will be at the local and county level, but that there is a “federal function” because states also decide whether to pass voter identification laws.

“I don’t see the evidence” of fraud, he said. “But he’s the president, and if he thinks it’s there, have at it.’’

Democrats responded by announcing that they’re asking state election chiefs and attorneys general to provide lawmakers with information on all cases of voter fraud committed this past November.

“President Trump wants a major investigation of voter fraud — well now he has one,” said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.). “He continues to be obsessed with false numbers and statistics, but these are not ‘alternative facts,’ and there is no evidence to support these claims.”

Karoun Demirjian, Karen DeYoung, Ellen Nakashima and Lisa Rein contributed to this report.