Trump doesn't rule out invoking Insurrection Act around election - USA Today
President Donald Trump isn't ruling out invoking the Insurrection Act around the midterm election as the contest enters the final weeks with Republicans trailing in key races, as the president continues to stoke unfounded concerns about widespread voter fraud.
As some of Trump's supporters press him to declare a national emergency around the election, Time Magazine asked the president if he would rule out taking emergency action.
"I don't rule anything out or in. We'll see," Trump responded in the Sept. 28 interview.
"You mean the Insurrection Act?" the president added, before going on to say that he's "never used it."
"I could use it. A lot of people think I should use it sometimes," Trump said of the 1807 law that allows the president to deploy the military on U.S. soil during times of civil disorder.
Trump sought to overturn the 2020 election he lost to President Joe Biden, alleging without evidence that it was rife with fraud. He has continued to warn of widespread fraud, prompting Democrats and other Trump critics to raise concerns that he could take drastic actions surrounding the midterms.
Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act amid tensions in Minneapolis after two shootings involving immigration agents.
Democrats have pressed the administration for assurances that Trump won't send troops to the polls, prompting Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine to respond with a letter saying there are "no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections."
"Likewise, the Joint Force has no plans to use such personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or other election related-material," Caine wrote.
Trump also told Time that he hasn't thought about sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to the polls, but didn't dismiss the idea.
Steve Bannon, a close Trump ally who served as White House chief strategist during the president's first term, said in February that "We're going to have ICE surround the polls come November."
"We're not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again," Bannon said on his podcast. "And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen."
Trump has declined in the past to rule out declaring a national emergency around the election. During a "Real Americaβs Voice" interview with Trump on Aug. 10, host Wayne Allyn Root suggested issuing an emergency declaration to implement voting changes.
"Let me just say that stranger things have happened, OK?" Trump responded. "Iβll leave it at that.β
The president has taken extraordinary steps to influence the election, pushing a mid-decade redistricting effort to draw more Republican-leaning House seats and signing an executive order to restrict voting that was overturned by the Supreme Court. He has deployed federal agents to investigate voters' citizenship status and recently began airing taxpayer-funded pro-Trump ads.
Trump regularly accuses his opponents of election cheating, telling the crowd this month at his midterm convention in Texas that "there's never been bigger cheaters, they don't care." He led the audience in a pledge to vote.
"I donβt care if Iβm registered or not. Iβm going to try and cheat like hell, like they do," Trump said in leading the pledge.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, has accused Trump of trying to "rig" an election that polling indicates favors Democrats. Trump's low approval rating is weighing on his party, with some GOP candidates distancing themselves from the president in recent days.
"The lengths Trump will go to cheat, like and steal in this upcoming election are simply beyond the pale," Schumer said recently.
