President Trump suggested on a conservative podcast that Republican officials should “take over” and “nationalize” elections in 15 states, a proposal he framed as preventing undocumented immigrants from voting. Democrats, including Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Chuck Schumer, condemned the idea as a threat to future elections, while the White House reiterated calls for voter ID and alleged irregularities. The report also notes an FBI seizure of ballots in Fulton County, a US jet downing an Iranian drone near the USS Abraham Lincoln, and other domestic and international developments, including Trump’s $1bn action against Harvard.
Trump Suggests ‘Nationalizing’ Elections in 15 States — Democrats Warn of Threat to 2026–2028 Balloting
A Michigan voter inserts her absentee voter ballot into a drop box in Troy, Michigan, in 2020.Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP(Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP)
President Donald Trump told a conservative podcast released on Monday that Republican state officials should “take over” and “nationalize” elections in 15 states to protect the party from being voted out of office. He framed the proposal as a means of preventing undocumented immigrants from voting.
Experts and election administrators say claims that noncitizens vote in numbers large enough to change outcomes are false, but the suggestion has prompted sharp concern that the president is weighing measures that could undermine free and fair elections ahead of the November midterms.
Political Reactions
Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.) responded on Tuesday, saying:
“That statement alone makes clear that this threat to our election security, the basic premise of our democracy, is forward looking, to 2026, to 2028. This is about whether these same tactics we’re seeing now, or worse, will be used to disrupt free and fair elections.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X that
“Democrats will fight and block Trump’s calls to nationalize elections. The very pillars of American society, democracy and the rule of law will prevail over cult of personality.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the president “believes there has obviously been a lot of fraud and irregularities that have taken place in American elections,” and reiterated his support for voter ID legislation, calling it a “highly popular and commonsense” policy he wants passed nationwide.
Context And Ongoing Investigations
Trump made the remarks to podcast host Dan Bongino less than a week after FBI agents executed a criminal search warrant to seize nearly 700 boxes of ballots and other election material from Fulton County, Georgia — a frequent target of Trump’s false claims about 2020 election fraud.
Tulsi Gabbard, serving as director of national intelligence, has launched a separate review of the 2020 election with the president’s approval and reportedly joined an FBI seizure of election records in Georgia last week, a move that adds complexity to ongoing Justice Department inquiries.
International And Other Headlines
A separate Trump post celebrating a 19th-century US invasion of Mexican territory as “a legendary victory” drew a sharp rebuke from Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who said: “We must always defend our sovereignty.” Some Mexicans interpreted the message as a disturbing, veiled threat.
In the Arabian Sea, the US military said an F‑35 shot down an Iranian Shahed‑139 drone that approached the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln “with unclear intent.”
The release of roughly 3 million documents tied to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation has failed to eliminate outrage over how the Justice Department handled disclosures; advocates say potentially millions of additional records remain withheld.
On domestic legal news, Trump announced on Truth Social that his administration is seeking $1 billion in damages from Harvard University, accusing the university and its leadership of tolerating antisemitism. Separately, Trump signed legislation to avert a government shutdown, while top Democrats signalled they could withhold further Department of Homeland Security funding unless demands to curb mass deportations are addressed.
Other Items At A Glance
- The first meeting between Trump and Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro ended with pleasantries and an exchange of autographs and a MAGA cap after months of harsh rhetoric.
- Former CNN anchor Don Lemon said federal agents attempted to arrest him at a Los Angeles hotel on 30 January despite his intent to surrender on civil rights charges related to his coverage of a disruptive protest.
- New York will deploy legal observers in purple vests to monitor federal immigration enforcement actions, the state attorney general announced.
- Georgia Democrats sent a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi asking about Tulsi Gabbard’s presence during the Georgia election records seizure.
- The Trump administration unveiled a cartoon mascot called “Coalie” as part of a push to revive coal mining jobs.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 2 February 2026.
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