Overview
- New reporting published Wednesday says several people close to President Trump — including attorney Peter Ticktin, pundit Wayne Allyn Root and former clerk Tina Peters — have pressed him to consider declaring martial law or a national-security emergency around the November midterms.
- Ticktin told reporters one scenario would be Trump declaring martial law on or around Nov. 3, and Root has urged a national-security emergency to impose voter ID and proof-of-citizenship rules while saying he regularly sends ideas to the president.
- White House and Cabinet advisers have spent months trying to steer Trump away from election-conspiracy claims even as they authorized searches of classified files, the seizure of Georgia election records and checks of Puerto Rico voting equipment, none of which found the large-scale fraud alleged.
- Legal experts say emergency powers are limited by statute and do not give the president a blank check to seize elections, and many Republican leaders oppose seizure plans because of legal risks and political costs.
- If such a bid proceeds it would likely trigger immediate court challenges, deepen public polarization and raise the prospect of local disruptions to voting procedures, building on long-running election-denial movements that began after 2020.