In bombshell testimony to the special counsel grand jury, Trump administration national security officials testified that they had to tell Trump they didn’t have the authority to seize voting machines after the 2020 election.
Chad Wolf, the former acting Homeland Security secretary, and his former deputy Ken Cuccinelli were asked about discussions inside the administration around DHS seizing voting machines when they appeared before the grand jury earlier this year, according to three people familiar with the proceedings. Cuccinelli testified that he “made clear at all times†that DHS did not have the authority to take such a step, one of the sources said.
Trump’s former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, in a closed-door interview with federal prosecutors earlier this year, also recounted conversations about seizing voting machines after the 2020 election, including during a heated Oval Office meeting that Trump participated in, according to a source familiar with the matter.
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The fact that those conversations happened in the Oval Office suggests that Trump was trying to get the federal government to seize the voting machines in swing states so that he could claim that there had been fraud and stay in power.
What would have happened to the country if Trump had filled his administration with people who didn’t care if the government had the legal authority to seize voting machines?
The government would have seized voting machines in the states, and Trump would have tried to hang on to power through a coup.
The United States came close to losing its democracy after the 2020 election, and when the media treats Donald Trump like just another presidential candidate instead of a threat to the nation, they are enabling the impulses of a man who wanted to seize voting machines after he lost an election.
If Trump ever returns to power, next time the United States might not get so lucky.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
