Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, warned that former President Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to disrupt the upcoming midterm elections. Speaking on MSNBC after Trump’s speech, Himes said Trump was “setting the context” to justify seizing ballot boxes on Election Day.
Himes: Trump preparing to deploy federal officers
“I’m not an alarmist,” Himes said, “but understand what happened tonight: the president was setting the context, he was setting the basis for him to turn around, at midnight on Election Day and say, ‘I warned you, I warned you back in July that the Chinese were doing XYZ and the Venezuelans were doing XYZ and all this terrible stuff. It happened tonight. I am deploying federal officers from the Department of Homeland Security to the seven states, they will be seizing ballot boxes in those states because we know that lots of undocumented aliens voted in those states. So we are seizing ballot boxes.’”
Chain of custody at risk
Himes highlighted the potential consequences, asking, “What happens when all of a sudden we’ve lost the chain of custody of 70 ballot boxes? That is the moment in which American democracy dies.” He drew on his personal experience during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, saying, “Part of the energy you’re hearing from me tonight is the fact that I was one of the last people out of the chamber of the House of Representatives on January 6th 2021. I saw our democracy come this close to ending. And the energy you are hearing from me tonight is that I actually see the path, and this is the moment for every American to go to whitehouse.gov, as the president asked you to do, to look at the China section, to read the report.”
CIA director’s statement
Himes noted that former colleague John Ratcliffe, now CIA director, issued a carefully worded statement. Ratcliffe said the agency “produced key intelligence reporting” but did not assert that any foreign interference in the 2020 election actually occurred. According to Ratcliffe, the intelligence showed only that “Venezuela’s government had developed capabilities to manipulate electronic voting systems, raising serious concerns for U.S. election infrastructure security” and that China tried “to influence the 2020 election against President Trump” — not that either nation succeeded in manipulating vote totals.
We will be evaluating the White House material backing Trump’s claims and will report our findings soon.
