District attorneys around America are warning Trump’s FBI chief what will happen if he breaks the law and sends agents to the polls in November: “We’re going to lock their asses up.”
Yesterday, under oath, Kash Patel refused to promise that his agents will stay away from polling places in the midterms, despite strict federal laws barring the practice. In fact, Patel seemed to hint that the Bureau was pre-positioned to do it across America, a move that election experts widely view as an attempt to intimidate voters of the political opposition — i.e. to scare them away from the voting booth.
The director was asked point blank by Senator Richard Blumenthal whether he could commit that no FBI agents would be sent to the polls on Election Day. He wouldn’t. Instead, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee: “I don’t know that we can’t legally do it.” Then he boasted that the Bureau has an election crimes coordinator in all 56 field offices, promising, “you bet we’re going to have them there and manning the post.”
Meanwhile, a Republican candidate for governor in Michigan says “my friend Kash” already told him the FBI will have a presence in his state leading up to Election Day.
But local prosecutors around the United States have already warned that such plans would be illegal. And they’re prepared to take action against federal law enforcement officers who engage in voter intimidation or voter suppression.
Their warnings may come to fruition. Patel is teeing up the possibility, if not the likelihood, that the FBI will deploy personnel toward the polls across its field offices. And I suspect the regime’s lawyers think they’ve found a clever workaround, namely, leaving their guns at the office. The main federal statute here, 18 U.S.C. § 592, is a Civil War-era law that makes it a felony to station “troops or armed men” anywhere an election is being held.
While the military has already ruled out sending troops to voting locations on behalf of Trump, it appears the FBI might be looking to do it instead, possibly under the belief that if its agents aren’t armed, the statute doesn’t apply.
Yet district attorneys have pointed out that the “unarmed” loophole is a mirage. Federal law separately makes it a crime to intimidate voters or interfere with an election, armed or not. 18 U.S.C. § 595 bars federal employees from using official authority to affect an election. 52 U.S.C. § 20511 criminalizes intimidating voters or anyone helping them vote. No firearm is required to stumble over this tripwire. In this case, wearing the FBI windbreaker to instill fear is the weapon.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see what they’re trying to do. You can visualize Election Day coverage of polling places in Detroit, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Atlanta with clusters of people in FBI jackets standing outside and holding clipboards, staring down voters as they line up to cast a ballot. Agents of the regime. Agents of the president. Do you really think they’re trying to spot fraud? Or perhaps to make Democratic voters think twice about showing up?
I spent years inside the federal government, including at the Department of Homeland Security, and to me there’s nothing subtle about it. This is a naked attempt at voter suppression. MAGA groups already tried to do this in recent midterm elections, including staking out ballot drop boxes while armed in Arizona in 2022, until a federal judge forced them to back off. But now the MAGA movement has control of federal law enforcement agencies themselves and the ability to send them out with the thinnest veneer of legitimacy.
I’m guessing Donald Trump is more tempted than ever to do it. He’s getting desperate. In recent weeks, his election schemes have been thwarted, again and again. Trump’s team was told NO when they tried to seize state voter rolls. They were told NO when they tried to track and snatch Americans’ ballots from the mail. They keep losing in the courts, yet they keep trying because Trump sees the writing on the wall. He’s terrified of losing control of Congress.
I got a glimpse of that writing this week. While shooting our forthcoming documentary on corruption, we met a man standing outside the White House chatting up British tourists. He was a professional guy in his early sixties, a successful businessman from Texas, and as he told us, a three-time Trump voter. We asked him whether Trump had “drained the swamp.” He didn’t answer right away. Above us, cranes swung back and forth over the White House skyline, working feverishly to finish Trump’s ballroom before another lawsuit could be filed against it.
The man eyed the construction and sighed.
“I just can’t do it anymore. I just can’t. The corruption. It’s gross.”
We filmed him for a bit and carried on the conversation. Then he asked us to point the cameras away and not use his name. He didn’t want to upset people back home. Friends and business interests.
The conversation was illustrative. Is the president’s base rising up defiantly to disavow him? Not exactly. But all across the country, you are seeing people like him. Surveys show they’re quietly quitting the MAGA movement in droves, with the president’s poll numbers sinking in red states. Trump knows it, which is why he realizes the only way for him to win is to cheat.
That’s why DEFIANCE.org got ahead of this months ago.
Back in May, we teamed up with the FAFO Project (the Fight Against Federal Overreach, a nonprofit group that we incubated) and district attorneys around the country to prepare local prosecutors to charge law-breaking federal agents who engage in voter suppression. When Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner joined us for a conversation, my co-founder Xander Schultz asked him what happens if someone tries to intimidate his voters. His answer was straightforward.
“If people want to steal your vote, I want to lock them up. It’s really not that complicated.” Krasner pledged that if Trump sends federal officers to stop people from voting, “they are going to get charged with election interference, which is a crime in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Can local prosecutors go after federal officials who commit crimes in their states?
“Yes, we can,” he responded.
The FAFO Project is now well underway in training local prosecutors to defend the constitutional rights of voters in their districts and to monitor the polls for federal agents who might pop up at voting places in violation of the law.
Whether or not the FBI sends its people out on Election Day, it’s a certainty that the polls will be swarmed — with lawyers, poll watchers, and ordinary American citizens who are preparing to demand that their government play by the rules. In the conversation with Larry Krasner, we pressed him one more time.
But what if they don’t? What if Trump’s people still get dispatched to intimidate voters?
For the avoidance of doubt, he repeated himself: “Then we’re going to lock their asses up.”
Your friend, in defiance,
P.S. This is exactly the fight DEFIANCE.org was built for. We’re a nonprofit club for the courageous, and our members make missions like this possible. Become a member and join us.
DEFIANCE DAILY
In case you missed it, last night’s episode of DEFIANCE Daily is below. Catch our next episode tonight at 5 pm ET!
THE ANT HILL IS OUR MEMBERS-ONLY CORNER OF THE COLONY, WHERE “DEFY ANTS” GET MORE THAN JUST THE NEWSLETTER.
TODAY’S FEATURES: THE DEFIANCE WATCHLIST AND MY DEFIANCE MISSION
IF YOU’RE ALREADY A DEFIANCE MEMBER, THEN MARCH RIGHT IN. IF NOT, SIGN UP HERE, SO YOU DON’T MISS A THING.
