WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called on Republicans to seize control of election processes from individual states, signaling that he may push for drastic measures to change the dynamics of the midterm elections.
“Amazing that the Republicans aren’t tougher on it,” Trump said in an interview Monday with former FBI official Dan Bongino. “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over, we should take over the voting in at least many — 15 places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked.”
Trump’s powers to change election policies are limited. The U.S. Constitution endows state legislatures with the power to set the time, place and manner of holding elections and specifies that Congress is the only body that can revise the rules.
The president didn’t elaborate on what actions he wants the GOP to take, nor did he name the locations he wanted them to target. The White House pointed to the president’s previous advocacy for voter ID requirements and sharing voter rolls with the federal government, in part to ensure that undocumented migrants are not registered.
“President Trump cares deeply about the safety and security of our elections — that’s why he’s urged Congress to pass the SAVE Act and other legislative proposals that would establish a uniform standard of photo ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting, and end the practice of ballot harvesting,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.
In the interview, Trump also repeated his false claim that he had won the 2020 race.
After losing the 2020 election, Trump made widespread accusations of wrongdoing and fraud, but none were substantiated and his legal challenges of former President Joe Biden’s victory failed.
Trump’s comments come as the administration presses to gain access to voter data in battleground states, including with an FBI raid of a Georgia county election office last week. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard participated in the effort, which alarmed Democrats and local officials who warned it was a sign of the brewing fight over the November elections.
The parties of sitting presidents have historically lost ground in Congress during their first midterm contests after taking office. During his first term, Democrats won back control of the House in 2018. Trump has said that he believes he will be impeached if Democrats regain the House in voting later this year.
Trump’s initial remarks threatened to complicate negotiations over ending the partial government shutdown. A group of House conservatives are pushing to insert into a funding measure a requirement for people to show proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has said that doing so could cause an extended shutdown because Democrats in the Senate would not accept it.
But the president posted later Monday on social media that lawmakers should pass a short-term spending bill with “NO CHANGES” and “WITHOUT DELAY,” indicating he would not tie voting regulations to the shutdown fight.
