NYT, CNN Reports Say Trump Pressed to Seize Voting Machines After 2020 Election

Reports that former President Donald Trump pressed to seize voting machines in the wake of his 2020 election defeat divided the media spectrum and made waves amid 2024 election speculation.

The New York Times reported Tuesday that six weeks after Election Day 2020, Trump asked his lawyer "to ask the Department of Homeland Security if it could legally take control of voting machines in key swing states." Also Tuesday, CNN (Left bias) reported that retired Col. Phil Waldron and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, "drafted two versions of an executive order to seize voting machines." The reports, which were both based on anonymous sources, follow a rally Trump held Saturday, where previewed a potential second term as president.

Left- and center-rated sources covered the news prominently, and often framed it as more evidence of the purported dangers Trump poses to democracy. Many also framed the alleged actions as an unprecedented attempt to use the government to enforce false election fraud claims. One writer for the Washington Post (Lean Left bias) argued that Trump "fully intended to do everything within his means" to stop Biden from taking office. Howard Kurtz (Center bias), a media columnist for Fox News (Right bias), said the Times's report revealed "a very troubling episode" and implied that Trump supporters would be upset "if the leader of another country had ordered the confiscation of voting machines in a disputed election." Few right-rated sources offered original reporting on the news.