Democratic attorneys general are parsing President Donald Trump’s language for clues about how he might try to interfere with the midterm elections and running exercises to prepare for a variety of potential scenarios.
As the president’s approval rating has nosedived throughout his first year back in office, the administration has tried to assert federal control over elections, demanded states’ voter rolls, and raided a voting hub outside Atlanta, Georgia.
Trump himself has been on a personal mission to pressure red states into redrawing their congressional maps to benefit Republicans, convince Senate Republicans to do whatever it takes to pass voting restrictions, and revive debunked conspiracy theories about his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.
All of this has Democrats on edge about what Trump might do come November, when—barring widespread congressional redistricting or a major economic turnaround—Republicans appear likely to struggle to keep their majority in Congress.
For months, the Democratic Party’s top prosecutors have gathered in hotel rooms and met over Zoom to try to predict what exactly Trump might do and to game out their responses, Politico reported.
They’ve also been monitoring Trump and his allies’ every word about elections for hints about what the administration could do next.
Potential scenarios include preparing for the administration to try to seize ballots and voting machines, disrupt the delivery of mail-in ballots, or send soldiers or federal immigration agents to polling locations to intimidate voters, according to Politico.
The plan is to have motions for temporary restraining orders prepared in advance if they need to ask the courts to preserve election materials or remove armed forces from election sites.
Trump “wants to continue to have his party prevail, seemingly by whatever means necessary,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Politico. “So, we have to be ready for that, sad and tragic as it is.”
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said Trump would “try anything,” giving Democrats the unenviable task of trying to get inside the president’s head.
“We have to just sort of think creatively about: If you were the president and you were trying to invalidate an election or undermine an election, what are the oddball, ludicrous, unconstitutional theories that you might advance?” Brown told Politico.
The attorneys general are especially worried that Trump might try to interfere with cities in battleground states, such as Atlanta, Georgia, and Detroit, Michigan, that featured in Trump’s false claims about voter fraud.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Politico that Democrats were “plotting to undermine commonsense election integrity efforts supported by a vast majority of Americans.”
She also argued that the Department of Justice has the authority to ensure that states comply with federal election laws mandating accurate state voter rolls, and said Trump is “committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections.”
The Daily Beast has also reached out to the White House for comment.
