On Thursday night, President Donald Trump gave an address in which he made some dodgy claims about foreign election interference in 2020, the election he lost. The speech did not seem to convince anyone other than Trump’s strongest loyalists.
Shortly before the speech, a Democratic senator issued a warning about what the president might do as a result.
According to The Independent, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) appeared on MSNBC’s NOW and warned that the president might try to send troops to seize ballots ahead of the midterm elections. She also said she has introduced legislation, the Protect Our Polls Act, that would “prevent uniformed military personnel or federal law enforcement from touching voting machines or votes.”
“The president refuses to rule out, as does his cabinet, sending in uniform military, and you have to think through these scenarios,” Slotkin said on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show. “What if they send in the military and they say: ‘You know what? We’re coming into this voting location. We’re going to seize machines.”
“This is not something he says kind of offhandedly,” Slotkin said on MS NOW. “He’s obsessed with it and, so, he’s willing to really do anything to win, quote-unquote, in November.”
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
Slotkin has been on that possibility for a while, even asking Pete Hegseth during his confirmation hearing in January of 2025 about active-duty military being deployed domestically, although not specifically in relation to elections.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) presses Pete Hegseth on whether he’d deploy active-duty military domestically at Trump’s request.
Hegseth: “I’m not going to get ahead of conversations I would have with the president.” pic.twitter.com/pqg2UJQCPf
— The Recount (@therecount) January 14, 2025
“The Protect Our Polls Act strengthens longstanding federal protections against the use of Federal troops or armed agents at polling places by requiring Congress to pass a Joint Resolution of Approval before any deployment under the “armed enemies of the United States” exception in federal law,” Slotkin said in a document announcing the Protect Our Polls Act. “The bill requires the Executive Branch to provide Congress with intelligence, legal justification, deployment plans, and evidence that state and local authorities cannot address the threat on their own 48 hours before any deployment.”
Photo courtesy of Elissa Slotkin’s official portrait.
