Trump Allies Working Toward Federal Takeover of Elections Ahead of 2026

Good morning everyone. The news cycle was relatively quiet overnight, so I want to use this time to highlight a story that far too few people are discussing. Behind closed doors, the Trump administration is quietly placing prominent election deniers into top election integrity positions across key federal and state agencies.

These moves are laying the groundwork for a potential national emergency declaration that could give the White House control over state-run elections ahead of 2026. This is a deeply alarming development that deserves front-page coverage across every major outlet.

Many journalists are hesitant to touch this story out of fear of backlash from the administration. I’m not one of them. My only responsibility is to you, not to corporate interests and certainly not to this White House. If you value independent journalism that is willing to speak truth to power, please subscribe and help sustain this work.

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With that, here’s what you need to know:

Trump allies who promoted false 2020 election claims now hold senior federal roles, including Heather Honey at DHS and Marci McCarthy at CISA, embedding election deniers inside agencies that oversee voting security and policy.

They are advancing a plan to use fabricated “national emergency” powers and a proposed “U.S. Citizens Elections Bill of Rights” to override state authority, restrict mail voting, purge voter rolls, and centralize partisan control of elections.

This marks a coordinated effort by Trump, Cleta Mitchell, and the Election Integrity Network to turn debunked conspiracy theories into federal policy and manipulate future elections from within the government.

Trump was pushing this debunked lie as recently as overnight:

Trump said he would personally decide whether his administration should pay him $230 million in damages for prior federal investigations into his conduct, claiming the government “owes him a lot of money” for probes like the Mar-a-Lago search and the Russia inquiry; the unprecedented move—filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which bars such self-interested claims—creates a conflict in which Trump, as president, could authorize payment to himself while his former defense lawyers now hold top Justice Department roles overseeing the process.

Internal records obtained by The Guardian reveal that U.S. police departments and agencies across the country spread an unverified rumor in 2024 claiming members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang had been ordered to attack law enforcement—a claim later quietly debunked by the FBI, which admitted there was no such directive; the false report, first circulated by Albuquerque police and amplified by CBP, DHS, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and conservative media, fueled anti-immigrant rhetoric and justified harsh Trump administration actions, including deportations and lethal strikes near Venezuela.

ICE has been sending new recruits to its Georgia training academy before completing background checks, drug tests, or fitness exams, as the agency rushes to meet President Trump’s goal of adding thousands of immigration officers for mass deportations. Internal data reviewed by NBC News shows more than 200 trainees have been dismissed—some for criminal histories or failed drug tests—while officials warn that inadequate vetting could allow unqualified candidates to slip through amid a flood of 150,000 applications and shortened six-week training sessions.

The Trump administration is preparing to deploy more than 100 federal agents to the San Francisco Bay Area for a large-scale immigration enforcement operation, using a Coast Guard base in Alameda as a staging ground and sparking outrage from California officials; Governor Gavin Newsom called the move “right out of the dictator’s handbook.”

The US military carried out two lethal strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific this week at President Trump’s direction, killing all aboard and marking an expansion of the administration’s campaign from the Caribbean into the Pacific; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the vessels were operated by a designated terrorist organization involved in narcotics trafficking, compared cartels to al Qaeda, and cited a new classified legal opinion treating traffickers as enemy combatants who can be killed without judicial review.

Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were arrested Thursday as part of a federal investigation into illegal gambling, according to reports from AP and NBC; Rozier was detained in Orlando after the Heat’s game against the Magic, while Billups was taken into custody separately, with FBI Director Kash Patel expected to announce details later in the day about two connected cases involving roughly two dozen suspects tied to organized crime groups and unlawful betting activity.

Trump warned in a Time magazine interview that Israel would “lose all of its support from the United States” if it annexed the West Bank, saying he had pledged to Arab nations that such a move “will not happen”; his remarks, published today, came just before the Knesset advanced a bill to annex the occupied Palestinian territory, and he also said he intends to visit the Gaza Strip without specifying when.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned that Israel’s parliamentary move toward annexing parts of the occupied West Bank could jeopardize President Trump’s Gaza peace plan, saying the U.S. does not support annexation “at this time.”

Vice President JD Vance criticized the Israeli Knesset’s vote to annex the occupied West Bank, calling it a “very stupid political stunt” and emphasizing that the Trump administration’s policy remains firmly opposed to annexation; Vance said he was told the vote was purely symbolic and expressed personal offense at it, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio separately warned the move could endanger the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Author Michael Wolff filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against First Lady Melania Trump, alleging she threatened to sue him for $1 billion to stop him from reporting on her alleged connections to Jeffrey Epstein; the complaint claims her threats were meant to “harass, intimidate, and punish” Wolff and interfere with his right to free speech.

Good news:

Scientists have developed the first effective vaccine against elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV), a deadly disease that has killed countless young elephants in zoos and the wild. Created by researchers from the University of Surrey, Chester Zoo, and the UK’s Animal and Plant Health Agency, the two-dose vaccine produced a strong immune response with no side effects, marking a breakthrough that could save endangered elephant populations and protect conservation herds worldwide.

After years of research, graphene is finally moving into large-scale production, with companies like 2D Photonics and Nanotech Energy creating ultra-efficient chips and batteries that outperform silicon and lithium-ion alternatives. New facilities in Milan and the U.S. are manufacturing graphene components for 6G tech, aerospace, and renewable energy, while others use it to strengthen concrete and build advanced sensors—marking the long-awaited arrival of the “graphene revolution.”

The Seminole Tribe of Florida, America’s oldest ranchers, is marking 500 years of cattle herding—a tradition that began when their ancestors captured livestock from Spanish settlers in the 1500s. Descended from the Calusa people who first raised Andalusian cattle, the Seminoles maintained their herds through centuries of conflict and survival in the Everglades. Today, their cooperative includes 68 families managing 10,000 cattle—many led by women—and the tribe earns top prices for breeding resilient Brahma-Angus hybrids that reflect both cultural legacy and modern innovation.

See you this evening.

— Aaron