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 publish 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 advised Bongino it was “wonderful that the Republicans aren’t harder on it.”
“The Republicans ought to say, ‘We need to take over,'” Trump stated. “We must always take over the voting … in no less than many, 15 locations. The Republicans must nationalize the voting. Now we have states which are so crooked and so they’re counting votes.”
The Structure provides states the authority to conduct federal elections, topic to legal guidelines handed by Congress. The elections clause states, partially, 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 photograph ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting, and finish the follow 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.
“Just some hours in the past, Donald Trump stated he desires to nationalize elections across the nation. That is what Trump stated. You suppose he believes in democracy? He stated, ‘We need to take over, the Republicans must nationalize the voting,'” Schumer stated on the Senate ground. “Does Donald Trump want a replica of the Structure? What he’s saying is outlandishly unlawful.”
Trump’s agenda is at stake on this yr’s elections, the place all seats within the Home and 35 within the Senate shall be up for grabs. At the moment, Republicans maintain slender margins in each chambers — however midterm cycles are traditionally unkind to the sitting president’s occasion.
Final yr, Trump and different Republicans pushed for mid-decade redistricting as a way to achieve 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 in a position to get, with a courtroom order, the ballots. You are going to see some fascinating issues come out,” Trump stated on Bongino’s podcast.
ABC Information’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
