\n President Donald Trump called on Republicans to \u201cnationalize the voting\u201d in an interview that aired Monday, as his administration pushes to overhaul election ground rules ahead of the pivotal midterm races later this year.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe Republicans should say, we want to take over, we should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,\u201d Trump told Dan Bongino, the former deputy director of the FBI, in a podcast appearance.\n <\/p>\n
\n The president\u2019s comments come less than a week after the FBI searched<\/a> an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, which has long been a centerpiece of Trump\u2019s baseless claims that his 2020 loss to Joe Biden was fraudulent. The search was related to a Justice Department effort to seize election records and search for alleged voter fraud in the county, CNN previously reported.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe have states that are so crooked and they\u2019re counting votes. We have states that I won, that show I didn\u2019t win,\u201d Trump said. \u201cNow you\u2019re going to see something in Georgia where they were able to get with a court order, the ballots, you\u2019re going to see some interesting things come out.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Trump himself directed her <\/a>to go to Atlanta for the controversial search. In a sign of his involvement and interest in the probe, Gabbard put the president on the phone with some of the FBI agents involved in the search, according to two sources familiar with the call, with one source saying the conversation consisted of a brief \u201cpep talk.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Elections are run by state and local officials, with the federal government playing only a limited role. But that hasn\u2019t stopped Trump from attempting to revamp how elections are conducted.\n <\/p>\n \n Last year, he signed an executive order <\/a>seeking to require voters to show proof of US citizenship when registering to vote in elections and prohibit states from counting mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. While it\u2019s been partially blocked in federal court, non-citizens are already prohibited from voting in federal elections.\n <\/p>\n \n On several occasions, Trump has pledged to change how the country votes, zeroing in on methods he falsely claims lead to fraudulent voting. In August<\/a>, he said he was going to \u201clead a movement\u201d to end mail-in ballots, and vowed to sign an executive order banning them, in addition to voting machines. He did not end up signing the order.\n <\/p>\n