Updated Feb. 3, 2026, 7:16 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump called for the federal government to “get involved” in overseeing elections as his talk of nationalizing the voting process generates bipartisan pushback and alarms critics worried about the fairness of future contests.
Asked during a Feb. 3 White House event attended by GOP lawmakers what he meant by comments he made on a podcast with Dan Bongino about nationalizing voting, Trump said: “I want to see elections be honest, and if a state can’t run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it.”
The president repeated his unfounded claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” and pointed to places where he alleged “horrible corruption on elections,” saying “the federal government should not allow that. The federal government should get involved. These are agents of the federal government to count the votes.”
States have the authority under the Constitution over “the times, places, and manner” of federal elections. State and local authorities administer voting, though the Constitution gives Congress the power to “make or alter” election rules.
Trump told Bongino on Feb. 2 that “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.”
Schumer on Trump’s comments: What he’s saying is ‘outlandishly illegal’
Trump’s talk of nationalizing the voting process was quickly turned down by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, who told reporters that he’s “not in favor of federalizing elections” and thinks “that’s a constitutional issue,” The Hill reported.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, blasted Trump’s podcast comments in a speech on the Senate floor.
“What he’s saying is outlandishly illegal,” Schumer said. “Once again, the president’s talking no differently than a dictator who wants elections in America to be as legitimate as elections in countries like Venezuela.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Feb. 3 that Trump was referring to passing the SAVE Act, a voter ID bill, in his conversation with Bongino, the former FBI deputy director. But Trump didn’t mention the SAVE Act when asked about his podcast remarks during the Oval Office event.
Trump doubled down on his remarks about federal involvement in elections as his administration ramps up efforts to investigate the 2020 contest, which he lost to former President Joe Biden. Trump’s push to overturn that election culminated in a mob of his supporters storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to stop the certification of the vote.
Trump was impeached by the House after the Capitol riot, but acquitted in the Senate, and indicted by former Special Counsel Jack Smith. The charges were dropped after Trump won reelection.
The FBI recently executed a search warrant at an elections center in Georgia, a state Trump lost in 2020 and where he has falsely claimed the election was stolen.
Contributing: Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
