Top Democrats on the congressional intelligence committees said this week they are preparing for President Donald Trump to allege foreign interference if midterm results are unfavorable, and they want the nation’s intelligence chiefs reachable if he does¹.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia and Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees, described the scenario to reporters Wednesday as one of about 50 they say they have considered, with less than two weeks of voting left¹.

Himes said the pair have told Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and CIA Director John Ratcliffe to answer their cellphones if the president makes such an announcement¹. Himes said Democrats are assuming Trump will not accept results of what he called a challenging election for the president and his party¹.

States Newsroom reported that the administration has increased enforcement against noncitizen voting, including arrests and an effort to block some suspected noncitizen ballots in California, while Democrats and voting-rights groups have said for months that Trump could try to affect the midterms¹.

In a July primetime speech on election security, Trump said China had acquired 220 million voter files and described what he called Chinese election meddling; the White House released declassified reports on voting-machine vulnerabilities¹. Trump said vote totals or machines could be manipulated and that election websites, poll books and registration databases could be exploited.

Election-security specialists cited in the report said a decentralized U.S. system makes nationwide interference difficult, and Verified Voting data cited there show every state except Louisiana uses paper ballots or a paper record. Warner asked whether Democrats could get ahead of a fabricated or isolated piece of intelligence used to justify illegal action.

Warner and Himes sit on the Gang of Eight, which receives classified intelligence briefings. Himes distinguished interference, such as altering rolls or results, from influence campaigns such as social-media messaging, and said they are not seeing capability or intent to interfere. He also said lawmakers have not received required pre-election threat reports.

House Intelligence Committee Democrats wrote ODNI on July 2 that a May 7 report on election-security vulnerabilities and foreign threats had been missed. ODNI did not answer States Newsroom questions.

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said Trump had done more than previous presidents to ensure free and fair elections and that anyone who votes illegally will be held accountable. She said the administration is prosecuting election crimes, strengthening infrastructure security and protecting voters from fraud and coercion.

The same report said CISA has lost roughly a third of its workforce in Trump’s second term and that DHS previously proposed ending a $39 million CISA election-security program. Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Joseph Morelle wrote Homeland Security in September that CISA had not funded the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center despite congressional direction. On Wednesday, Himes and Rep. Bennie Thompson asked Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to brief Congress; DHS did not answer the outlet.

Jennifer Morrell of The Elections Group said the administration had gutted CISA’s election work and that local officials cannot gather foreign-threat intelligence on their own. Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon said her office has strong IT resources but she worried about smaller counties. Tammy Patrick of Election Center said states are relying more on their own budgets and nonprofits.

Sources

1. Alabama ReflectorDems in Congress say they’re wary Trump won’t accept results of electionOct 23, 5:55 AM

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