New reports indicate that President Trump’s attorneys are urging him to declare a national emergency ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Since Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Trump has alleged election fraud and has not formally conceded defeat.
Despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud, Trump and members of his administration have continued to make those claims. With the midterm elections approaching and Trump’s approval ratings declining, the president is reportedly exploring options related to executive authority.
As reported by The Washington Post, a draft proposal from pro-Trump attorneys claims that China interfered in the 2020 election and calls for declaring a national emergency, which would grant expanded executive powers over upcoming elections.
However, according to a National Intelligence Council report on foreign threats to the 2020 election, declassified in March 2021, China “considered but did not deploy influence efforts intended to change the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.”
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Facts like these have never stopped Trump from promoting what he believes to be true. As ABC News reported, this draft would prohibit the use of mail-in ballots, require voter IDs to cast ballots, and mandate hand-counted ballots.
Peter Ticktin, one of Trump’s longstanding allies, is part of the pro-Trump attorneys’ board. He previously represented Trump in a 2022 lawsuit that was later dismissed and alleged Russia’s unfair involvement in the 2016 election. According to him, “Under the Constitution, it’s the legislatures and states that really control how a state conducts its elections, and the president doesn’t have any power to do that.”
He then added, “But here we have a situation where the president is aware that there are foreign interests that are interfering in our election processes. That causes a national emergency where the president has to be able to deal with it.”
As for Trump himself, earlier this month, he took to Truth Social and posted, “There will be Voter ID for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not! Also, the People of our Country are insisting on Citizenship, and No Mail-In Ballots, with exceptions for Military, Disability, Illness, or Travel.”
Trump and Republicans’ “SAVE Act” isn’t about stopping noncitizens from voting in federal elections—they already can’t and don’t.
It’s about changing the rules of the game. They can’t win Americans over on policy, so they want to make it harder for Americans to vote. pic.twitter.com/wx88xWimVe
— James E. Clyburn (@RepJamesClyburn) February 14, 2026
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, has been passed by the Republican-led United States House of Representatives. The bill requires Americans to provide proof of citizenship when voting and to show photo identification in federal elections.
The measure has been condemned by Democratic politicians and lawmakers. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat and vice chairman of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote on Facebook, “We’ve been raising the alarm for weeks about Trump’s attacks on our elections — now we’re getting details about how they might be planning to do it. Let’s be clear: there’s no national emergency. This is a plot to interfere with the will of voters.”
With debate intensifying over election laws and executive authority, the upcoming midterm elections and the rules surrounding them are shaping up to be a significant political issue.
