‘BIG cheating’: This is Trump’s team on election claims and what they could do in November

The Trump administration has undertaken an unprecedented effort to inject the federal government into state elections as it hunts for voter fraud — and to help President Donald Trump continue his baseless quest to try to prove the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from him.

Election officials and Democratic lawmakers fear that the Trump administration’s aggressive actions could spill into Election Day and voter intimidation — and that dubious claims of mass voter fraud will be used to cast doubt on the midterm election results if they go poorly for Trump and the GOP.

CNN has reviewed what five outspoken officials leading the effort — including the president — have said in TV interviews, podcast appearances and speeches about voter fraud and their attempts to find it ahead of the midterms, how their claims about widespread issues of fraud often don’t add up, and what actions they say their agencies or the federal government may take in November.

Who: Mullin has kept the Department of Homeland Security at the center of Trump’s election agenda — hunting for noncitizen voters and investigating election fraud, pressuring states to adopt Trump-backed election reforms and raising doubts about the security of voting machines.

What are the claims: In July, Mullin claimed DHS had identified more than 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada by analyzing public voter lists as well as roughly 25,000 noncitizen registrants in more than a dozen Republican-led states that voluntarily handed over their rolls.

But the headline-grabbing numbers Mullin presented as “fact” have come under immense scrutiny and, in some cases, failed to hold up. Even some Republican officials have warned that the DHS findings are misleading and dramatically inflated.

Mullin has echoed Trump’s longstanding warnings that most voting machines are vulnerable to hacking, particularly because they contain foreign-made parts. “We know that [foreign adversaries] can change voter registration and your vote,” Mullin said in July.

Last month, Mullin alleged there was “some trouble with some machines” but said he could not determine whether fraud was involved: “That may have had a glitch, may have been something else.”

He has also warned that election officials who fail to adequately secure the midterms or prevent illegal voting could face consequences — including fines, other penalties or even prison.

What can be done in November: Escalating disputes over allegations of non-citizens on voter rolls have spilled into federal court on the eve of the election and could fuel broader questions or challenges over the integrity of the results.

In California, the Justice Department sued after DHS identified roughly 20,000 likely non-citizens registered, seeking to segregate their ballots until their citizenship is confirmed. A federal judge rejected the DOJ demand on Wednesday. DOJ has made similar demands in Washington State, despite concerns that last-minute investigations could disenfranchise eligible voters that may have been mistakenly flagged.

Mullin’s warnings to state and local officials are part of a broader pressure campaign on election workers who have endured years of threats and baseless accusations. Some officials and voting rights advocates worry the added scrutiny could strain operations and that isolated mistakes could be used to cast doubt on otherwise valid results.

He continues to press others in the administration to address what he describes as voting-machine and supply-chain vulnerabilities, including systems that use barcodes or QR codes. Other Trump allies have called for machines to be restricted or even banned ahead of the midterms, though the administration has yet to take such an action, and likely lacks the authority to do so.

DHS is seeking to withhold grant funding from states that refuse to adopt sweeping Trump-backed election changes, including mandating manual paper-ballot counts after elections. It’s unclear if any states have agreed to adopt new reforms.

Meanwhile, Mullin and DHS have repeatedly denied that the administration plans to widely deploy ICE agents to polling places during the midterms, saying recently: “We’re only going to be there if we’re required because there’s some type of threat.”

Still, local election officials, including some Republicans, are preparing their workers in case federal officers show up.

DHS has devoted extensive investigative resources to finding illegal voting, probing thousands of individuals as well as canvassing groups and nonprofit organizations. Internal department records indicate that federal agents will be monitoring the midterms in their hunt for voter fraud.

Who: As head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — which oversees voting-rights enforcement — Dhillon has become one of the administration’s most visible figures in its push to uncover election fraud. A longtime Trump ally, she supported his efforts to challenge the 2020 result.

What are the claims: Dhillon has repeatedly accused local officials of enabling voter fraud and vowed to pursue cases for any and all election violations.

“We’ve found hundreds of thousands of dead people on the voter rolls and tens of thousands of noncitizens on the voter rolls, which are now being investigated further,” Dhillon said on Fox Business in July.

However, despite devoting massive resources to voter-fraud investigations, the administration has publicly announced only a few dozen election-related prosecutions.

Dhillon’s team has sought unredacted voter rolls from the states as part of the administration’s search for noncitizen voters — and they’ve sued roughly 30 states that balked at the request. The DOJ has lost every ruling in those cases so far. Dhillon has suggested that officials who refuse to comply, which includes some Republicans, may have something to hide.

Other Republican-led states have voluntarily given their voter lists to Dhillon’s department.

Like Mullin, Dhillon has warned local officials they could face prosecution if they fail to adequately safeguard the midterms. This summer, she sent letters to all 50 states that even some Republican officials described as unnecessary and threatening.

“My job is to enforce all of the federal laws relating to voting, and those laws include criminal penalties, not only for the people who falsely rep their citizenship to register to vote, or vote illegally, but also election officials who knowingly allow or conspire with people to vote when they have no legal right to do so, including noncitizens,” Dhillon said in a July interview on Newsmax.

What can be done in November: Dhillon has championed what she calls the “biggest DOJ election observer effort in history,” with plans to deploy more than 1,000 federal monitors to polling places across all 50 states on Election Day. Federal monitors have long been part of US elections, and Dhillon says they will not interfere with voting. Instead, she says, they will document potential violations of federal law and other irregularities for review afterward.

CNN found that some Justice Department monitors deployed during this year’s primaries had previously participated in legal efforts to challenge or overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss. In Wyoming, Republican officials accused two federal monitors of using “aggressive” tactics.

While there’s no evidence of looming disruptions on November 3, Dhillon’s rhetoric has fueled concerns among some election officials that Trump’s Justice Department may depart from the longstanding practices and limits governing federal election monitoring.

Dhillon has also said states that have refused to turn over unredacted voter rolls are “under investigation.” That warning, combined with the administration’s threats against local officials — including DOJ most recently threatening California election officials with prosecution over noncitizen voters — has stoked fears that federal authorities could target election workers and use isolated incidents to bolster claims that the results cannot be trusted. The Justice Department last week issued federal grand jury subpoenas to local election officials in Los Angeles County, a significant escalation in their battle with the state.

In Alaska, DOJ filed a preemptive federal lawsuit last week to block the state from certifying the results of its Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan loses to Democratic challenger Mary Peltola. DOJ alleges the campaign of another candidate — Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher — was designed to confuse and pull votes away from the incumbent, though Alaska’s Supreme Court ruled in June that both Sullivans could remain on the ballot. DOJ has also opened a criminal probe into the matter.

Who: Patel leads the FBI, which in January seized 700 boxes of 2020 election materials in Georgia from Fulton County’s election offices. The search warrant was obtained based on allegations in an affidavit from 2020 election denier Kurt Olsen , who has worked in the White House and Justice Department under Trump. Fulton County officials argued in court filings that those claims have long-circulated in right-wing circles and have already been investigated by the state, which found no intentional wrongdoing.

In March, the FBI also subpoenaed records of the Arizona state Senate’s audit of the 2020 election, which reaffirmed Joe Biden’s victory over Trump.

What are the claims: Patel has stoked Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen in television interviews. In April, he spoke to then-Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, who pressed him about investigating Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

“Do you have anything to tell us about that?” asked Bartiromo.

Patel went on about the FBI’s Russia investigation during Trump’s first term before turning to the election claims.

“They not only personally attacked the presidency of the United States and President Trump, but they tried to thwart our elections and rig the entire system, and that is not something that is going to stop - that is not something I’m going to allow on my watch,” Patel said.

“We’ve got all the evidence. I can announce on your show that we’ve got all the information we need,” he continued. “We’re working with our prosecutors, the Department of Justice and Attorney General Todd Blanche, and we are going to be making arrests, and it’s coming, and I promise you it’s coming soon.”

It’s not clear what arrests Patel was referring to.

What can be done in November: Democratic lawmakers and election officials fear the FBI could send agents to the polls on Election Day, an action they say would be an intimidation tactic that violates state election laws.

At a September hearing, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked Patel to commit to not sending FBI agents to the polls.

“On Election Day, the FBI will follow the law,” Patel responded. “If there’s a reason to go there because there’s been a violation of law, we will. Otherwise, we won’t.”

Blumenthal followed up by asking whether Patel agreed “that deploying FBI agents to the polls on Election Day would be contrary to law?”

“I don’t know that we can’t legally do it,” Patel said. “I’m telling you we’re going to house our agents and intel analysts in our field offices for election security.”

Who: Solomon, a conservative journalist, joined the White House in July as a special government employee leading the White House Government Transparency Task Force to declassify and release documents related to alleged election fraud as well as prior investigations into Trump.

Solomon’s task force declassified the documents that fueled Trump’s July speech in which the president alleged election meddling from China in 2020, though Solomon acknowledged after the speech there was no evidence any votes were altered.

What are the claims: Solomon, who runs the news site Just the News, has touted the documents as evidence of election vulnerabilities, suggesting that voting machines could be hacked, and he’s said he’s still investigating whether any votes were flipped.

“The president let the American people know that for the last six years we’ve had a glass chin when it comes to election security,” Solomon said on his “Just the News: No Noise” show the day after Trump’s July speech. “We knew in 2020 our machines were potentially vulnerable to being hacked by five foreign powers.”

“It doesn’t mean the machines flipped votes. It doesn’t mean that we caught widespread cheating yet. But it is absolutely certain now that the American public was in an election system that had significant vulnerabilities,” he added.

Solomon has also alleged that the 2020 election was part of a broader “deep state” conspiracy that includes Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation into Trump during his first term and Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictments of Trump while he was out of office.

“I don’t think the intelligence committee put a thumb on the 2020 election. They threw their whole body on it,” Solomon said on the New York Post’s Pod Force One last month. “Intelligence experts with political ambition seem comfortable now using their intelligence credentials to try to hijack or influence an election.”

What can be done in November: Solomon continues to release declassified documents through his White House task force, including recent files about Smith’s investigation and the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in 2022.

While Solomon has raised concerns about the vulnerabilities of voting machines and interference from China, he’s also downplayed the notion advocated by some Trump allies that the president should declare a national emergency or take unprecedented action like seizing voting machines.

After Trump’s speech, Solomon was pressed by an MS NOW reporter about the president’s claims the 2020 election was stolen and whether votes were changed.

“The Intelligence Committee has zero evidence that someone, that a foreign power, flipped a vote in 2020, ’22 or ’24,” Solomon said, with a caveat that “we’re not through all the documents.”

Asked about whether the 2020 election results were correct, Solomon said: “I’m still researching,” adding there was “not yet” intelligence to support the stolen election claims.

Who: Trump has spent years insisting, without evidence, that US elections are stacked against him and other Republicans and that widespread fraud and voting by noncitizens have affected the results of elections, falsely claiming he did not lose the 2020 election.

Since retaking office last year, much of his election agenda has hit a wall. Legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register and identification to vote has stalled in the Senate . Efforts to impose new rules on mail voting and voter rolls have also been blocked by the courts.

What are the claims: With the midterms approaching, he is ramping up his rhetoric. Trump claims Democrats are preparing to cheat, foreign governments can manipulate US elections and voting machines cannot be trusted. And he is urging Republicans to closely monitor the upcoming election.

During California’s June primaries, as mail ballots were still being counted, Trump baselessly accused Democrats of trying to steal the races for governor and Los Angeles mayor. He claimed there was “BIG cheating” and that the count was under federal investigation. Trump later said a call he made to the Justice Department stopped the supposed fraud, but there is no evidence his call affected the results.

In his July prime-time address , Trump announced the declassification of thousands of pages of records that he cast as proof of weaknesses in US elections and the threat of foreign interference. The documents included intelligence about China’s collection or analysis of American voter data.

But they did not show that China altered voting systems, manipulated ballots or changed the outcome of the 2020 election.

Trump has also floated extraordinary federal intervention. Earlier this year, he said Republicans “ ought to nationalize the voting” and “take over” election administration in some places.

At a Republican midterm convention in September, Trump led the crowd in reciting a vow that they would vote in the midterms: “I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States that loves us so much he can’t even breathe, that I will go out with my family, my friends. I’ll do it any way — I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try and cheat like hell like they do.”

What can be done in November: Trump cannot simply take over the midterm elections, as some allies want him to do. States and local governments administer voting, and any major federal intervention would face steep legal and constitutional hurdles.

Trump is urging supporters to vote in overwhelming numbers — including by mail — and mobilize as poll watchers. “You have to make sure that people aren’t cheating,” he has said.

As demands for more aggressive action have grown among his supporters, Trump has teased the prospect of declaring a national emergency to exert greater federal control over the midterms, saying “stranger things have happened.” He’s also said he regrets not seizing voting machines after the 2020 election: “Well, I should have.”

The most volatile period may come after the polls close, especially if close races remain unresolved while Trump alleges fraud.

Trump will enter November in control of federal agencies with broad powers to investigate possible crimes, file lawsuits, pursue voter and citizenship records and ask judges to authorize searches for election materials.

Some election officials and legal experts are preparing for the possibility that investigators could seek ballots or voting equipment while races are still being decided. Experts describe that as an extreme scenario, and any federal search warrant would require a judge’s approval.

Disputes over fraud claims, ballot counting and certification drove weeks of legal battles after the 2020 election and culminated in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

特朗普政府采取了前所未有的行动，将联邦政府引入各州选举，以寻找选民欺诈行为——并帮助唐纳德·特朗普总统继续他毫无根据的追求，试图证明 2020 年大选被操纵并被窃取。

选举官员和民主党议员担心，特朗普政府的激进行动可能会蔓延到选举日，导致选民受到恐吓——而且，如果中期选举对特朗普和共和党不利，有人会利用有关大规模选民欺诈的可疑说法来质疑选举结果。

CNN 回顾了五位领导这项工作的直言不讳的官员（包括总统）在电视采访、播客节目和演讲中关于选民欺诈以及他们在期中选举前试图发现欺诈行为的言论，分析了他们关于普遍存在欺诈问题的说法如何经常自相矛盾，以及他们表示各自的机构或联邦政府可能在 11 月采取哪些行动。

谁：穆林一直将国土安全部置于特朗普选举议程的核心位置——搜寻非公民选民并调查选举舞弊，向各州施压以采纳特朗普支持的选举改革，并对投票机的安全性提出质疑。

指控内容如下：7 月，穆林声称，国土安全部通过分析公开的选民名单，在加利福尼亚州、宾夕法尼亚州、新泽西州和内华达州发现了超过 25 万名登记投票的非公民，此外，在十几个共和党领导的州，还有大约 2.5 万名非公民登记选民自愿交出了他们的选民名册。

但穆林所公布的那些引人注目的“事实”数据受到了严格审查，在某些情况下，这些数据根本站不住脚。甚至一些共和党官员也警告说，国土安全部的调查结果具有误导性，而且严重夸大。

穆林呼应了特朗普长期以来的警告，即大多数投票机都容易受到黑客攻击，尤其因为它们包含外国制造的部件。穆林在7月份表示：“我们知道（外国敌对势力）可以篡改选民登记信息和你的投票。”

上个月，穆林声称“一些机器出现了一些问题”，但他表示无法确定是否涉及欺诈：“可能是机器出了故障，也可能是其他原因。”

他还警告说，未能充分保障中期选举安全或防止非法投票的选举官员可能会面临后果，包括罚款、其他处罚甚至监禁。

11 月可以采取的措施：有关选民名册上存在非公民的指控引发的争议不断升级，在选举前夕蔓延至联邦法院，这可能会引发对选举结果公正性的更广泛质疑或挑战。

在加利福尼亚州，国土安全部发现约有2万名疑似非公民登记在册后，司法部提起诉讼，要求隔离他们的选票，直到确认其公民身份。周三，一名联邦法官驳回了司法部的这一要求。尽管有人担心，临时展开的调查可能会剥夺一些被错误标记的合格选民的投票权，但司法部在华盛顿州也提出了类似的要求。

穆林向州和地方官员发出的警告，是针对选举工作人员的更广泛施压行动的一部分。这些选举工作人员多年来一直遭受威胁和毫无根​​据的指控。一些官员和投票权倡导者担心，额外的审查可能会使选举运作不堪重负，而且个别错误可能会被用来质疑原本有效的选举结果。

他持续敦促政府其他官员解决他所说的投票机和供应链漏洞，包括使用条形码或二维码的系统。特朗普的其他盟友也呼吁在中期选举前限制甚至禁止使用这些投票机，但政府尚未采取此类行动，而且可能也缺乏相应的权力。

国土安全部正试图扣留拒绝采纳特朗普支持的全面选举改革方案的州的拨款，这些改革方案包括强制要求在选举后进行人工纸质选票计票。目前尚不清楚是否有任何州同意采纳这些新改革。

与此同时，穆林和国土安全部一再否认政府计划在中期选举期间向投票站广泛部署移民执法局特工，他们最近表示：“只有在存在某种威胁的情况下，我们才会到场。”

不过，包括一些共和党人在内的当地选举官员正在为联邦官员的到来做好准备。

国土安全部投入了大量调查资源，以查明非法投票行为，调查了数千名个人以及多个拉票团体和非营利组织。该部门内部记录显示，联邦特工将密切监控中期选举，以打击选民欺诈行为。

人物：作为司法部民权司司长（该司负责监督投票权执法），迪伦已成为本届政府在打击选举舞弊方面最引人注目的人物之一。作为特朗普的长期盟友，她支持特朗普挑战2020年大选结果的努力。

指控内容如下：迪伦多次指责地方官员纵容选民欺诈，并誓言要追究任何及所有选举违规行为。

“我们在选民名册上发现了数十万已故人士和数万名非公民，目前正在对此进行进一步调查，”迪伦在 7 月份接受福克斯商业频道采访时表示。

然而，尽管政府投入了大量资源用于选民欺诈调查，但公开宣布的与选举相关的起诉案件仅有几十起。

作为政府搜寻非公民选民行动的一部分，迪伦的团队一直要求各州提供未经删减的选民名册，并已就此对大约30个拒绝配合的州提起诉讼。迄今为止，司法部在这些案件中全部败诉。迪伦暗示，拒绝配合的官员（其中包括一些共和党人）可能有所隐瞒。

其他由共和党领导的州已自愿向迪伦的部门提供了选民名单。

与穆林一样，迪伦也警告地方官员，如果他们未能充分保障中期选举的顺利进行，可能会面临起诉。今年夏天，她向所有50个州都发出了信函，甚至一些共和党官员也认为这些信函既不必要又具有威胁性。

“我的职责是执行所有与投票相关的联邦法律，这些法律包括刑事处罚，不仅针对那些谎称自己是公民以登记投票或非法投票的人，也针对那些明知故犯地允许或与他人串谋让没有合法投票权的人（包括非公民）投票的选举官员，”迪伦在7月份接受Newsmax采访时说道。

11月可以采取的行动：迪伦大力倡导她所谓的“司法部历史上规模最大的选举观察员行动”，计划在选举日当天向全美50个州的投票站部署1000多名联邦观察员。联邦观察员长期以来一直是美国选举的重要组成部分，迪伦表示他们不会干预投票。相反，她说，他们将记录潜在的违反联邦法律的行为和其他违规行为，以便事后审查。

CNN发现，今年初选期间部署的一些司法部监督员此前曾参与过挑战或推翻特朗普2020年大选败选结果的法律行动。在怀俄明州，共和党官员指责两名联邦监督员使用了“激进”策略。

虽然没有证据表明 11 月 3 日会出现混乱，但迪伦的言论加剧了一些选举官员的担忧，他们担心特朗普的司法部可能会偏离长期以来管理联邦选举监督的做法和限制。

迪伦还表示，拒绝交出未经删减选民名册的州“正在接受调查”。这一警告，加上政府对地方官员的威胁——包括司法部最近威胁要起诉加州选举官员，指控他们非法投票——加剧了人们的担忧，即联邦当局可能会针对选举工作人员，并利用个别事件来强化选举结果不可信的说法。司法部上周向洛杉矶县的地方选举官员发出联邦大陪审团传票，这标志着司法部与加州之间的斗争显著升级。

上周，美国司法部在阿拉斯加州提起联邦诉讼，试图阻止该州认证参议院选举结果。如果共和党现任参议员丹·S·沙利文败给民主党挑战者玛丽·佩尔托拉，司法部将采取先发制人的行动。司法部指控另一位候选人——退休教师丹·J·沙利文——的竞选活动旨在混淆视听，分散选票，损害现任参议员的利益。尽管阿拉斯加州最高法院在6月份裁定，两位沙利文都可以继续参选。司法部还就此事展开了刑事调查。

人物：帕特尔领导的联邦调查局于今年1月从佐治亚州富尔顿县选举办公室查获了700箱2020年大选材料。搜查令是根据2020年大选否认者库尔特·奥尔森的一份宣誓书中的指控获得的。奥尔森曾在特朗普执政期间在白宫和司法部工作。富尔顿县官员在法庭文件中辩称，这些说法早已在右翼圈子中流传，并且州政府已经对此进行过调查，并未发现任何故意不当行为。

今年 3 月，联邦调查局还向亚利桑那州参议院发出传票，要求提供该州对 2020 年大选的审计记录，该审计结果再次确认乔·拜登战胜了特朗普。

指控内容如下：帕特尔在电视采访中煽动特朗普毫无根据的言论，声称2020年大选被窃取。今年4月，他接受了当时福克斯商业频道主播玛丽亚·巴蒂罗姆的采访，巴蒂罗姆追问他是否调查过特朗普关于2020年大选舞弊的说法。

巴蒂罗姆问道：“你有什么要告诉我们的吗？”

帕特尔先是谈到了特朗普第一任期内联邦调查局对俄罗斯的调查，然后才转向选举争议。

帕特尔说：“他们不仅对美国总统和特朗普总统进行了人身攻击，还试图破坏我们的选举，操纵整个制度，这是不会停止的——在我任内，我绝不会允许这种事情发生。”

“我们已经掌握了所有证据。我可以当着你们节目的面宣布，我们已经掌握了所有需要的信息，”他继续说道。“我们正在与检察官、司法部和司法部长托德·布兰奇合作，我们将进行逮捕，而且逮捕行动即将到来，我向你们保证，很快就会发生。”

目前尚不清楚帕特尔指的是哪些逮捕事件。

11 月可以采取的措施：民主党议员和选举官员担心联邦调查局可能会在选举日派特工前往投票站，他们表示，这种行为是一种恐吓策略，违反了州选举法。

在 9 月份的一次听证会上，民主党参议员理查德·布卢门撒尔要求帕特尔承诺不会派遣联邦调查局特工前往投票站。

帕特尔回应道：“选举日当天，联邦调查局会依法行事。如果确有违法行为需要介入，我们会出警；否则，我们不会。”

布卢门撒尔接着问帕特尔是否同意“在选举日向投票站部署联邦调查局特工违反法律”？

帕特尔说：“我不知道我们这样做是否合法。但我可以告诉你，为了选举安全，我们将把我们的特工和情报分析人员安置在我们的外勤办公室里。”

人物：索罗门是一位保守派记者，于 7 月加入白宫，担任特别政府雇员，领导白宫政府透明度工作组，负责解密和发布与涉嫌选举舞弊以及此前对特朗普的调查有关的文件。

所罗门的特别工作组解密了促成特朗普7月份演讲的文件，在演讲中，总统声称中国干预了2020年大选，尽管所罗门在演讲后承认，没有任何证据表明任何选票被篡改。

索罗门是新闻网站“Just the News”的运营者，他声称这些文件是选举漏洞的证据，暗示投票机可能被黑客入侵，他还表示仍在调查是否有选票被篡改。

“总统让美国人民知道，过去六年里，我们在选举安全方面一直不堪一击，”所罗门在特朗普7月发表讲话后的第二天，在他的“Just the News: No Noise”节目中说道。“我们早在2020年就知道，我们的机器可能很容易被五个外国势力入侵。”

“这并不意味着机器篡改了选票。这也不意味着我们已经发现了大规模的作弊行为。但现在可以肯定的是，美国民众所处的选举系统存在着严重的漏洞，”他补充道。

所罗门还声称，2020 年大选是更广泛的“深层政府”阴谋的一部分，其中包括特别检察官罗伯特·穆勒在特朗普第一任期内对其展开的俄罗斯调查，以及特别检察官杰克·史密斯在特朗普卸任后对其提起的诉讼。

“我不认为情报委员会只是对2020年大选插手，而是全力以赴，”所罗门上个月在《纽约邮报》的播客节目“Pod Force One”中说道。“那些有政治野心的情报专家现在似乎很乐意利用他们的情报资质来试图劫持或影响选举。”

11 月可以采取的措施：所罗门继续通过他的白宫特别工作组发布解密文件，包括最近有关史密斯调查和联邦调查局在 2022 年搜查特朗普海湖庄园住所的文件。

虽然所罗门对投票机的漏洞和中国的干预表示担忧，但他同时也淡化了特朗普的一些盟友所倡导的观点，即总统应该宣布国家进入紧急状态或采取前所未有的行动，例如没收投票机。

特朗普发表讲话后，MS NOW 的一名记者就总统声称 2020 年大选被窃取以及选票是否被篡改一事向所罗门施压。

所罗门说：“情报委员会没有任何证据表明有人，或者外国势力，在 2020 年、2022 年或 2024 年操纵了投票。”但他同时补充说，“我们还没有看完所有的文件。”

当被问及 2020 年选举结果是否正确时，所罗门表示：“我仍在调查中”，并补充说目前“还没有”情报支持有关选举被窃取的说法。

谁：特朗普多年来一直毫无证据地坚称，美国大选对他和其他共和党人不利，广泛的舞弊和非公民投票影响了选举结果，并错误地声称他没有输掉 2020 年大选。

自去年重新就任以来，他的许多竞选纲领都遭遇了阻碍。要求选民登记时提供公民身份证明、投票时提供身份证明的法案在参议院陷入僵局。此外，旨在对邮寄投票和选民名册实施新规的努力也遭到了法院的驳回。

他的说法是什么：随着中期选举临近，特朗普加大了抨击力度。他声称民主党人准备作弊，外国政府可以操纵美国选举，投票机不可信。他还敦促共和党人密切关注即将到来的选举。

在加州六月的初选期间，邮寄选票仍在统计之际，特朗普毫无根据地指责民主党试图窃取州长和洛杉矶市长的选举结果。他声称存在“大规模舞弊”，并表示计票工作正在接受联邦调查。特朗普后来声称，他致电司法部制止了所谓的舞弊行为，但没有任何证据表明他的电话影响了选举结果。

在7月的黄金时段电视讲话中，特朗普宣布解密数千页文件，他称这些文件证明美国选举存在漏洞，并构成外国干预的威胁。这些文件包括有关中国收集或分析美国选民数据的情报。

但他们并没有证明中国改变了投票制度、操纵了选票或改变了 2020 年大选的结果。

特朗普还曾提出过非常规的联邦干预措施。今年早些时候，他表示共和党人“应该将投票权全国化”，并在某些地方“接管”选举管理工作。

在9月份的共和党中期选举大会上，特朗普带领人群宣读了他们将参加中期选举的誓言：“我向美国历史上最伟大的总统保证，他如此爱我们以至于无法呼吸，我将和我的家人、朋友一起去投票。无论如何我都会去——我不在乎我是否注册了，我会像他们一样拼命作弊。”

11月可以采取的措施：特朗普不能像一些盟友希望的那样，直接接管中期选举。投票由各州和地方政府负责，任何联邦政府的重大干预都将面临巨大的法律和宪法障碍。

特朗普敦促支持者踊跃投票——包括邮寄投票——并积极担任监票员。“你们必须确保没有人作弊，”他曾这样说道。

随着支持者要求采取更强硬措施的呼声日益高涨，特朗普暗示可能会宣布国家紧急状态，以便对中期选举施加更大的联邦控制，并称“更奇怪的事情都发生过”。他还表示，他后悔在2020年大选后没有查封投票机：“唉，我当时应该那么做的。”

最动荡的时期可能出现在投票结束后，尤其是如果选情胶着的选区结果悬而未决，而特朗普又声称存在舞弊行为。

特朗普将在11月掌控联邦机构，这些机构拥有广泛的权力，可以调查可能的犯罪行为、提起诉讼、查阅选民和公民记录，并要求法官授权搜查选举材料。

一些选举官员和法律专家正在为调查人员可能在选举结果尚未出炉的情况下搜查选票或投票设备的可能性做准备。专家称这种情况极为罕见，任何联邦搜查令都需要法官批准。

2020 年大选后，围绕舞弊指控、选票统计和认证的争议引发了数周的法律斗争，最终导致 2021 年 1 月 6 日美国国会大厦遭到袭击。