Politics
Opinion: The GOP assault on election integrity has already begun
If you needed just one fact to show that in the world’s greatest democracy one of the two major parties is perversely devoted to suppressing and even subverting the vote, you couldn’t do better than this: The senior counsel for the Republican National Committee’s “election integrity team” — Orwellian doublespeak come to life — is a criminal defendant in Arizona’s case against 18 Republicans who tried to overturn the state’s 2020 vote for Joe Biden.
But there are so many more such facts, alas, and they provoke trepidation about postelection chaos of the sort that Donald Trump and his party unleashed four years ago.
Opinion Columnist
Jackie Calmes
Jackie Calmes brings a critical eye to the national political scene. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.
As a Republican involved in pre-Trump presidential contests put it to me, when it comes to support for our electoral system, “Trump has taken the party to a bad place.”
Dangerously for democracy, Republicans’ belief in systemic fraud by Democrats is now an article of faith. Witness the elected officials in 2024 still dodging reporters’ questions about who won in 2020, for fear of angering Trump and worshipful party voters. “All they want to do is cheat,” Trump said of Democrats at a recent Wisconsin rally. Ominously, two-thirds of Republicans say they’d trust Trump about whether to accept the results next month, far more than they’d trust a government-certified outcome, according to an August poll from the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Since 2020, red states have enacted voting restrictions under the guise of “election integrity,” though fraud is all but nonexistent. They’ve imposed new identification requirements and limited mail-in ballots, drop boxes and just about any measure aiming to expand participation and provide convenience for harried Americans — and especially for minorities, college students, big-city voters and generally any groups that lean Democratic. Drop boxes have been a target of Republicans especially in Wisconsin, where U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde asked at a campaign event, “Who’s watching to see how many illegal ballots are being stuffed?”
Already millions of voters have cast early ballots, just as state and national Republican groups are pursuing scores of lawsuits nationwide contesting local and state election rules and practices, including about how those early mail-in ballots are counted. They want to throw out some on technicalities, such as failing to date an envelope, that have nothing to do with the ballots’ integrity, and trash any that arrive after election day although they’re postmarked before it.
Republicans are fighting to restrict mail-in ballots even as the party presses its own supporters to vote that way. That’s in keeping with Trump’s false claims that such voting is “corrupt.” Why? Simply because most mail-in votes are from Democrats. In battleground Pennsylvania, for example, Democrats are requesting more than twice as many mail ballots as Republican voters are.
Many of the lawsuits and other challenges before local election boards and legislative bodies won’t succeed, election experts agree, just as the scores of lawsuits filed after Trump’s 2020 defeat failed all the way up to the Supreme Court. On Monday, the justices rejected a petition from Republican secretaries of state, members of Congress and Pennsylvania state lawmakers opposing as unconstitutional a modest executive order from Biden; its provisions include time off for federal employees who wish to volunteer as much-needed nonpartisan poll workers.
But some challenges will prevail. Meanwhile, the legal fights keep election lawyers playing Whac-A-Mole, and leave voters and local administrators perplexed about just what the rules are. What’s different from 2020, and worrisome, is that Trump’s grassroots allies have had years since then to heed his wingman Steve Bannon’s 2021 call to capture control of election boards where votes are first counted and certified: “We’re going to take this back … precinct by precinct.”
The head of one such board in Michigan’s bellwether Macomb County is a Republican who implored Trump to fight to stay in office in 2020. A Republican on a North Carolina county board has made evidence-free claims that Democrats are trafficking in illegal votes. And Republican officials in some Pennsylvania counties have opposed certifying results in past elections. Those are among the findings of a Reuters review of swing-state election administrators.
Such election skeptics likely won’t determine next month’s result, but they could foul up the works by refusing to certify votes for Kamala Harris in the short term and, for the long term, further undermine confidence in voting.
Pennsylvania and Georgia, two of the most hard-fought prizes for Trump and Harris, are the states that most worry election experts. MAGA loyalists are in place in Georgia at the state and county level. They control the state board and have authorized county officials to withhold vote certifications for any “reasonable inquiry” they might conjure; ordered that ballots be counted by hand, a time-consuming and mistake-prone practice; and insisted on naming vote monitors for Democratic-leaning Fulton County, home to Atlanta and a plurality of Black residents. Democrats and voting groups are suing.
But here’s the good news: This time Trump isn’t the president, capable of abusing his power to, say, order the Justice Department to intervene or the Pentagon to seize voting machines. And JD Vance won’t be the vice president who presides when Congress certifies the result next Jan. 6.
Let’s keep it that way for the next four years.
@jackiekcalmes
U.S. military forces stopped and boarded a second sanctioned tanker carrying oil from Iran in the Indian Ocean, the Pentagon said on Thursday, ramping up pressure on Tehran as the Trump administration seeks to resume negotiations to end the war.
A naval boarding team roped down from hovering helicopters and fanned out on the vessel, the M/T Majestic X, according to a Pentagon statement that included a 17-second video of the operation.
The military said the boarding was part of a “global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate.”
Earlier this week, Navy SEALS boarded another ship in the Indian Ocean, the M/T Tifani, after the Pentagon said it was carrying oil from Iran.
Navy destroyers are also shadowing several other Iranian vessels, including the Dorena and Sevin, which had left from the Iranian port of Chabahar before the U.S.-imposed blockade began on April 13, a U.S. military official said. The Navy is directing those ships to return to an Iranian port, the official said.
With the M/T Tifani and M/T Majestic X now at least temporarily in the custody of the military, a U.S. military official said it was up to the White House to decide what to do with the sanctioned vessels and their cargo. The administration previously seized several tankers carrying illicit oil from Venezuela after a U.S. commando raid there in January that seized Nicolás Maduro, the country’s president.
“International waters cannot be used as a shield by sanctioned actors,” the Pentagon said in its statement on Thursday, adding that the department would “continue to deny illicit actors and their vessels freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.”
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hinted last week that the U.S. military would likely commence boarding operations like the ones this week. He said that U.S. military commanders elsewhere in the world, and especially in the Indo-Pacific region, would “actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.”
The U.S. Navy has turned back at least 31 ships trying to enter or exit Iranian ports since an American blockade outside the contested Strait of Hormuz began about a week ago, U.S. Central Command said late Wednesday.
Last Sunday, a Navy destroyer disabled and seized the Touska, an Iranian cargo ship, after it tried to evade the blockade. It was the first time a vessel was reported to have tried to evade the U.S.-imposed blockade on any ship entering or exiting Iranian ports since it took effect last week.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explained why President Donald Trump does not consider Iran’s seizure of two ships in the Strait of Hormuz a violation of the ceasefire agreement.
Leavitt made the statement during an interview with Fox News’ Martha McCallum on Wednesday just hours after Iran captured the Greek and Mediterranean-flagged vessels.
“Does the seizure of two ships — as we said, they were Greek and Mediterranean-owned ships with cargo on them, and the reports are that Iran basically seized them and then moved them into Iranian waters. We don’t know what’s going to happen to these crews. We’re not sure where all of this is going. Does the president view that as a violation of the ceasefire?” McCallum asked.
“No, because these were not U.S. ships. These were not Israeli ships. These were two international vessels,” Leavitt responded.
US FORCES ATTEMPTING TO BOARD SANCTIONED RUSSIAN-FLAGGED OIL TANKER IN NORTH ATLANTIC, SOURCES SAY
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, conducts a press briefing. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“And for the American media, who are sort of blowing this out of proportion to discredit the president’s facts that he has completely obliterated Iran’s conventional Navy, these two ships were taken by speedy gunboats. Iran has gone from having the most lethal Navy in the Middle East to now acting like a bunch of pirates. They don’t have control over the strait,” she continued.
“This is piracy that we are seeing on display. And the naval blockade that the United States has imposed continues to be incredibly effective. And, to be clear, the blockade is on ships going to and from Iranian ports. And the point of this is the economic leverage that we maintain over Iran now. While there’s a ceasefire with respect to the military and kinetic strikes, Operation Economic Fury continues, and the crux of that is this naval blockade,” she added.
The Iranian made ‘Seraj’ a high-speed missile-launching assault boat on display in Tehran on August 23, 2010, as Iran kicked off mass production of two high-speed missile-launching assault boats the ‘Seraj’ (Lamp) and ‘Zolfaqar’ (named after Shiite Imam Ali’s sword) speedboats which will be manufactured at the marine industries complex of the ministry of defense. (YALDA MOAIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said the vessels, identified as the MSC Francesca and the Epaminondas, were operating without proper authorization and had tampered with navigation systems, accusations that could not be independently verified. The ships had earlier reported coming under fire near the strait, underscoring the increasingly volatile conditions in one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes.
US ‘LOCKED AND LOADED’ TO DESTROY IRAN’S ‘CROWN JEWEL’ ‘IF WE WANT,’ TRUMP WARNS
The Guard attacked a third ship, identified as the Euphoria, which had become “stranded” on the Iranian coast, Iranian media reported. It did not seize that vessel.
Ships and tankers in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Musandam, Oman, April 18, 2026. (Reuters)
Both the U.S. and Iranian sides have targeted commercial and cargo vessels as part of a broader pressure campaign tied to stalled negotiations. U.S. forces have also moved to seize at least one Iranian-linked vessel in the region, with each side accusing the other of violating the terms of a fragile ceasefire.
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The Strait of Hormuz is a vital artery for global oil shipments, with roughly 20% of the world’s supply passing through it. Traffic has slowed dramatically as ships reroute or avoid the area amid gunfire, seizures and conflicting directives from both militaries.
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger met privately with President Trump and administration officials Wednesday to press for federal support and yet-unpaid wildfire recovery funding as the region continues to rebuild from the 2025 fires.
“This afternoon we met with President Trump and Administration officials to advocate for families who lost everything,” Bass and Barger said in a statement. “We had a very positive discussion about FEMA and other rebuilding funds as well as the support of the President to continue joining us in pressuring the insurance companies to pay what they owe — and for the big banks to step up to ease the financial pressure on L.A. families.”
Barger said the two leaders had a “high-level discussion” with the president in the Oval Office, sharing stories about what fire survivors are experiencing day to day. She added that “we left details behind with the President,” but did not specify whether Trump made any funding or policy promises during the meeting.
“First and foremost, today’s meeting was to thank the President for his initial support of infusing federal resources to expedite debris removal, as well as his recent tweet about insurance companies, which have already proven fruitful,” she said in a statement provided to The Times.
Bass was similarly reserved about the discussions, telling reporters that “we will follow up with the details,” but signaled progress is being made on federal support.
“I think what’s important is that we certainly got the president’s support in terms of, you know, what is needed, and then the appropriate people were in the room for us to follow up. And that was Russ Vought, who is the head of the Office of Management and budget,” Bass told KNX on Wednesday.
The meeting comes on the heels of a yearlong standoff between California leaders and the Trump administration over wildfire recovery funding, disaster response and whether the federal government should have a say in local rebuilding permitting.
California leaders, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, have accused the Trump administration of withholding billions in critical wildfire aid, prompting a lawsuit over stalled recovery funds. Officials allege political bias in the delay of billions of dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Newsom visited Washington in December. When he made his rounds on Capitol Hill, he met with five lawmakers, including three who serve on the Senate and House appropriations committees, to renew calls for $33.9 billion in federal aid for Los Angeles County fire recovery.
But the governor said he was denied a meeting with FEMA and would not say whether he had attempted to meet with Trump to discuss the issue.
Bass, meanwhile, appears to have found a path to the president on a subject that has been paramount for her community.
The fruitful meeting comes after Trump lobbed insults at the mayor at a news conference earlier this year, where he called her “incompetent” for how she handled last year’s wildfire recovery efforts. He alleged that under Bass’ leadership, the city’s delay in issuing local building permits will take years when it should have taken “two or three days.”
California officials, including Newsom, have urged the Trump administration to send Congress a formal request for the $33.9 billion in recovery aid needed to rebuild homes, schools, utilities and other critical infrastructure destroyed or damaged when the fires tore through neighborhoods more than 15 months ago.
What Bass and Barger’s meeting with the president ultimately produces remains to be seen.
The billions in recovery aid have not yet materialized, but the meeting could potentially give those discussions new momentum.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment about the meeting.
Earlier this month, Trump criticized insurance provider State Farm on Truth Social for its handling of the devastating Los Angeles County wildfires. He accused the insurance giant of abandoning its policyholders when tragedy struck.
“It was brought to my attention that the Insurance Companies, in particular, State Farm, have been absolutely horrible to people that have been paying them large Premiums for years, only to find that when tragedy struck, these horrendous Companies were not there to help!” Trump wrote.
But the rebuke didn’t come out of the blue. It stemmed from a controversial February visit to Los Angeles by Trump administration officials.
Trump tapped Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin in an effort to strip California state and local governments of their authority to permit the rebuilding of homes destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades fires.
Within the week, Zeldin was in Los Angeles, bashing Newsom and Los Angeles officials at a roundtable with fire victims and reporters, saying that residents were suffering from “bureaucratic, red tape delays and incompetency” and that leadership was “denying them … the ability to rebuild their lives”.
During the trip, officials heard direct complaints from local leaders and fire victims about insurers being slow, restrictive and insufficient with their claim payouts.
After these meetings, Trump directed Zeldin to investigate the insurers’ responses. State Farm, facing roughly $7 billion in fire-related claims, is also under formal investigation by California’s insurance commissioner over its handling of the crisis.
Despite tensions with the administration, Bass and Barger appeared confident that progress was being made on the insurance and funding issues.
“Our job is to fight for our communities,” their joint statement concluded. “When it comes to this recovery, our federal partners are essential, and we are grateful for the support of the President.”
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