President Donald Trump has made a desperate move as he sees his poll numbers slump over the past few months, and opponents say he knows he has jeopardized Republicans’ chances of retaining control of Congress as the midterms approach and primaries kick off in March. In response, Trump is lashin g out at Democrats and migrants and floating the idea of a “takeover” of elections in “15 places,” most likely Democratic-run states. U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a ceremony for the presentation of the Mexican Border Defense Medal in the Oval Office of the White House on December 15, 2025 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) His desperation was on stark display in an interview that aired on Monday, Feb. 2, on former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino’s podcast, where critics say Trump continued his lies about a “stolen” 2020 election, which courts, including the Supreme Court, have ruled former President Joe Biden won by millions of votes. Trump has repeated the falsehood for years, and recently, he’s been pushing a conspiracy theory that Democrats have allowed illegal immigrants to vote. Trump: "These people were brought to our country to vote, and they vote illegally. The Republicans should say, we should take over the voting in at least 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that I won that show I didn't win. You're gonna see… pic.twitter.com/H5hT3OvtLE— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 2, 2026 “These people were brought to our country to vote, and they vote illegally, and you know, it’s amazing that the Republicans aren’t tougher on it,” Trump insisted to Bongino. Then he urged the GOP to do what any foreign dictator would do to prevent a free and fair election that he knows he can’t win. “The Republicans should say, we want to take over. We should take over the voting, the voting at least 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,” Trump said, an incredulous statement to critics who contend that the president is already starting to meddle in the midterms coming up in November because he knows Republicans are going to lose over Trump’s unpopular policies unless they find a way to cheat. Social media descended into a frenzy of outrage, including lawmakers who are calling out Trump’s early attempts at interfering in the elections, a sneaky power play. “And there it is. He has no intention of allowing a free and fair midterm. In a sane world, this would be instantly impeachable,” one X user said. Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock led the charge in a post on X that went viral with more than 275,000 views and counting. “Donald Trump is a failed President, a liar, and a thief,” Warnock wrote. “He knows he can’t win fair and square. That’s why he is trying to seize control of our elections. We won’t let him get away with it.” But Warnock and state officials seemingly already have. Trump’s FBI swooped into Atlanta last week and seized truckloads of ballots and voting records from the 2020 election from an election center in Fulton County, Georgia, according to news outlets, in a move the New York Times called “extraordinary” in trying to prove the President’s false claims about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. Also “extraordinary” during the raid, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was spotted at the location. Her presence is uncommon, given Gabbard’s office’s typical distance from law-enforcement actions.  The next day, she called Trump, who then talked to the agents on speaker from Gabbard’s phone, the Times reported. The sequence of events raises questions about protocol and the separation between political leadership and active investigations. Critics and former officials argue that direct contact between a sitting administration official, a former president, and federal agents is highly unusual and could complicate efforts to maintain clear boundaries as the investigation proceeds. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday, Feb. 3, tried to explain away Gabbard’s unusual presence during the Fulton County election center raid while speaking to reporters outside the White House. Q: Why was Tulsi Gabbard involved in a domestic law enforcement search in Georgia?LEAVITT: Tulsi Gabbard has been tapped by the president to oversee the sanctity and security of our American elections. She's working directly alongside the FBI. This is a coordinated, whole of… pic.twitter.com/mV4hN0EBXq— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 3, 2026 “Tulsi Gabbard has been tapped by the president of the United States to oversee the sanctity and security of our American elections. She’s working directly alongside the FBI director Kash Patel. This is a coordinated, whole of government effort to ensure that our elections, again, are fair and transparent moving forward,” Leavitt said. Repeated investigations have found no fraud in the 2020 election, and experts say that what little fraud has been found in previous elections has never been enough to change an outcome and is usually the result of a clerical error. Leavitt also tried to downplay Trump’s remarks about a possible takeover of elections, saying the president was referring to the SAVE Act, a bill that tightens proof of citizenship requirements. “He spoke with the speaker directly about that yesterday about the need to get that bill on the floor for a vote, because it provides very common-sense measures for voting in our country, such as voter ID,” Leavitt explained. “I don’t think any rational person who’s being honest with themselves would disagree with the idea of requiring citizens of this country to present an ID before casting a ballot in a federal election, or frankly, in any election. And that’s something the president wants to see happen, so that’s what he was referring to.” Q: “To be clear, [Trump] does believe the states should oversee elections?”Leavitt: “The president believes in the United States Constitution. However, he believes there has obviously been a lot of fraud and irregularities that have taken place in American elections.” pic.twitter.com/Wa4JBgOiUc— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) February 3, 2026 “But to be clear, he does believe the state should oversee elections?” a reporter asked Leavitt, referring to the state’s right, according to the Constitution. “The president believes in the United States Constitution; however, he believes there has obviously been a lot of fraud and irregularities that have taken place in American elections. And again, voter ID is a highly popular and common-sense policy that the president wants to pursue, and he wants to pass legislation to make that happen for all states across the country,” Leavitt said. ‘He Knows He Can’t Win’: Trump Panics Then Pulls a Sneaky Power Move Ahead of March Primaries That Leaves Democrats Seething ...read more read less