President Donald Trump on Monday referred to as on Republicans to “take over” and “nationalize” voting as he continued to make false claims concerning the electoral course of within the U.S. with the 2026 midterm elections on the horizon.
Trump made the feedback in an interview with former FBI Director Dan Bongino, who resigned from his put up in December and returned to podcasting.
Trump alleged noncitizen voting was improperly influencing election outcomes, although experts insist such instances are incredibly rare and already illegal, and instructed Bongino it was “superb that the Republicans aren’t more durable on it.”
“The Republicans ought to say, ‘We need to take over,'” Trump mentioned. “We must always take over the voting … in at the very least many, 15 locations. The Republicans should nationalize the voting. We’ve states which are so crooked they usually’re counting votes.”
The Structure provides states the authority to conduct federal elections, topic to legal guidelines handed by Congress. The elections clause states, partly, that “state legislatures will set up the occasions, locations, and method of holding elections for the Home of Representatives and the Senate.”
Trump did not elaborate on how he needed Republicans to “nationalize” voting.
Requested by ABC Information for specifics on what Trump meant, White Home spokesperson Abigail Jackson responded, “President Trump cares deeply concerning the security and safety of our elections — that’s why he’s urged Congress to go the SAVE Act and different legislative proposals that will set up a uniform normal of picture ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting, and finish the apply of poll harvesting.”
President Donald Trump speaks within the Oval Workplace on the White Home, February 2, 2026.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s prime Democrat, slammed Trump over his feedback to Bongino.
“Only a few hours in the past, Donald Trump mentioned he needs to nationalize elections across the nation. That is what Trump mentioned. You suppose he believes in democracy? He mentioned, ‘We need to take over, the Republicans should nationalize the voting,'” Schumer mentioned on the Senate ground. “Does Donald Trump want a duplicate of the Structure? What he’s saying is outlandishly unlawful.”
Trump’s agenda is at stake on this 12 months’s elections, the place all seats within the Home and 35 within the Senate can be up for grabs. At present, Republicans maintain slim margins in each chambers — however midterm cycles are traditionally unkind to the sitting president’s celebration.
Final 12 months, Trump and different Republicans pushed for mid-decade redistricting with a purpose to acquire extra Home seats. The president warned Republicans last month that they should win the midterms or he’ll get “impeached.”
Trump additionally continues to litigate his 2020 election loss, spreading false claims of fraud.
Final week, the FBI searched and seized original 2020 voting records from the Fulton County Elections and Operations Hub in Georgia, a swing state that went blue in 2020 and helped safe Joe Biden’s victory.
“Now you are going to see one thing in Georgia the place they have been capable of get, with a courtroom order, the ballots. You are going to see some attention-grabbing issues come out,” Trump mentioned on Bongino’s podcast.
ABC Information’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
