WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0President Trump said Monday that the federal government should \u201cnationalize\u201d elections, repeating \u2014 without evidence \u2014 his long-running claim that U.S. elections are beset by widespread fraud.<\/p>\n
Speaking on a podcast hosted by former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, Trump said Republicans should \u201ctake over the voting in at least 15 places,\u201d alleging that voting irregularities in what he called \u201ccrooked states\u201d are hurting the GOP.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
The proposal would clash with the Constitution\u2019s long-standing framework that grants states primary authority over election administration, and underscored Trump\u2019s continued efforts to upend voting rules ahead of this year\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n
Trump, for example, lamented that Republicans have not been \u201ctougher\u201d on the issue, again asserting without evidence that he lost the 2020 election because undocumented immigrants voted illegally for Democrats.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we don\u2019t get them out, Republicans will never win another election,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThese people were brought to our country to vote and they vote illegally, and it is amazing that the Republicans are not tougher on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his remarks, the president suggested that \u201csome interesting things\u201d may come out of Georgia in the near future. Trump did not divulge more details, but was probably teasing what may come after the FBI served a search warrant<\/a> at the election headquarters of Fulton County, Ga.<\/p>\n Days after FBI agents descended on the election center, the New York Times reported<\/a> that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was with agents at the scene when she called Trump on her cellphone. Trump thanked them for their work, according to the report, an unusual interaction between the president and investigators tied to a politically sensitive inquiry.<\/p>\n In the days leading up to the Georgia search, Trump suggested in a speech during the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland, that criminal charges were imminent in connection to what he called a \u201crigged\u201d 2020 election.<\/p>\n Georgia has been central to Trump\u2019s 2020 claims. That\u2019s where Trump called Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on January 2021, asking him to \u201cfind\u201d 11,780 votes to overturn the state\u2019s results. Raffensperger refused, affirming that a series of reviews confirmed that Democrat Joe Biden had won the state.<\/p>\n Since returning to office a year ago, Trump has continued to aggressively pushed changes to election rules.<\/p>\n He signed an executive order in March to require proof of U.S. citizenship on election forms, but months later a federal judge barred the Trump administration from doing so<\/a>, saying the order violated the separation of powers.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause our Constitution assigns responsibility for election regulation to the States and to Congress, this Court holds that the President lacks the authority to direct such changes,\u201d Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia wrote in October.<\/p>\n In Congress, several Republican lawmakers have backed legislation to require people provide proof of citizenship before they register to vote. <\/p>\n Some conservatives are using the elections bill as bargaining chip amid negotiations over a spending package that would end a partial government shutdown that began early Saturday.<\/p>\n