NEED TO KNOW
President Donald Trump said the Republican Party should “take over the voting” in at least “15 places.”
During a Monday, Feb. 2, podcast interview with former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, Trump repeated his baseless 2020 election claims that he actually won in multiple states where Joe Biden was certified the victor, calling those states “crooked.”
“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least — many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,’ ” Trump, 79, said.
In the interview, Trump did not name which “15 places” he wanted to see the change.
The president tied his desire to federalize voting with one of his key agendas since retaking office: his mass deportation program to remove immigrants without U.S. citizenship.
“If Republicans don’t get them out, you will never win another election as a Republican,” he told Bongino.
When the U.S. Constitution was created, the Founding Fathers underwent great debate about how elections should work. The “Elections Clause,” found in Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution, gives each state the power to determine the time, manner and place in which its federal elections are held. Congress, on the other hand, has the power to set election rules. The president does not have constitutional authority on the topic of elections.
Republicans have traditionally defended states’ rights and lobbied for a less-powerful federal government.
Since 2020 Trump has frequently questioned results from states that permit mail-in voting and do not require voter identification, even though those around him assured the president no fraud had taken place.
In 2023 Trump went on NBC News’ Meet the Press, where he admitted he had been told the claims were wrong years before being indicted for allegedly attempting to overturn the election in his favor.
“It was my decision, but I listened to some people,” Trump said.
During the interview, Trump said that, while some in his orbit suggested the election was not rigged against him, he believed it had been and continued to make the claims.
“When I added it all up, the election was rigged,” Trump told Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker. He then added: “You know who I listen to? Myself. I saw what happened.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Trump’s most recent comments come a week after the FBI searched an elections office in Fulton County, Ga., as part of the Justice Department’s effort to seize election records and investigate alleged voter fraud.
FBI Atlanta previously confirmed the raid, referring to it as a “court-authorized law enforcement action” of the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Union City to PEOPLE. The FBI said the “investigation into this matter is ongoing” and opted not to provide further details.
A law enforcement official told Reuters that the investigation concluded on Wednesday, Jan. 28, adding that the FBI was looking for computers and ballots believed to be at the facility in an effort to find evidence of “possible election interference.”
Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. called the situation “absolutely crazy” during a press conference, noting that because the voter records were denied in the civil lawsuit, a criminal search warrant had been performed.
“The criminal search warrant is under seal, so we don’t even know who the target of the investigation is,” Arrington added. “This is nothing but sowing the seeds of distrust. This is a full-frontal attack on democracy.”
