Alarmed U.S. Officials Secretly Try to Block Trump Election Meddling

While the Trump administration is gearing up to interfere in November’s midterm elections, federal officials are secretly speaking with state governments and members of Congress on what to do.

The Washington Post reports that about 10 former and current employees with experience in the Department of Defense have been advising states on how to counter President Trump’s efforts under the radar. Some of the people have experience with opposing authoritarian governments overseas.

Two members of the group anonymously spoke with the Post, telling the newspaper that they were not motivated by political affiliation or bias but rather the fear that Trump is trying to damage democracy in the U.S. by undermining election integrity to protect himself and his Republican allies. The group, which also shared documents with the publication, has reportedly consulted with election officials, governors, and members of Congress comprising both Democrats and Republicans across 10 states.

The group is focusing on states and localities where races are expected to be close and could determine which party controls Congress after the midterms. The group is in constant contact with congressional staffers, and at least one state is holding ongoing meetings, according to the Post. In addition to raising awareness, the group is also trying to help states make their election protocols harder to for the federal government to exploit.

“All of them have said ‘We’re concerned but we don’t know what to do,’” one member of the group told the Post. “The outcome that we hope for is that states would be prepared for any contingencies should they arise.”

In a statement, the White House attacked the group and claimed Trump is only pushing for stricter election laws.

The Trump administration “is taking decisive action to protect our elections including prosecuting election crimes, strengthening election infrastructure security, and protecting vulnerable voters from fraud and coercion,” said White House spokesperson Lauren Bis.

Trump has continued to fuel election conspiracies and insist that the 2020 election was rigged against him. Administration officials have seized voting machines and ballots, demanded voter rolls from state governments, and taken legal action against Democratic states based on faulty or even fabricated evidence.

The White House has also sought to purge the federal bureaucracy of civil servants it deems disloyal to Trump, especially in federal law enforcement agencies like the FBI. Congress and state officials are right to be concerned about the election: Trump could interfere with the results, skirt or break laws, or outright disavow any losses without fear of legal action.

A 56-year-old father of three who died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention over the weekend was a lawful permanent resident, The Texas Tribune reported Monday.

Emiliano Andrade-Covarrubias was found unconscious in his bed Saturday morning at the Rio Grande Processing Center. ICE had detained Andrade-Covarrubias on June 26, as he was returning to Texas from Mexico through the port of entry in Laredo. The agency claimed that he’d failed to disclose a prior arrest when applying for his green card in 2004.

Andrade-Covarrubias’s daughter, Estefani Andrade, told the Tribune that her father had disclosed his criminal record during his application process and was still approved. Andrade-Covarrubias was scheduled to appear at an immigration court hearing on November 2.

As of Monday, his cause of death was still unknown.

Andrade told the Tribune that her father had a heart condition, diabetes, high blood pressure, and experienced a lasting toll from being hospitalized with Covid-19 in 2021. She claimed that staff at the processing center had refused to give him his medication, and that when her father began reporting symptoms, such as a persistent cough, difficulty breathing, and tightness across the chest, medical personnel “would just ignore him.”

In a statement, ICE claimed that Andrade-Covarrubias received proper medical care.

A Bloomberg Law investigation concluded that 37 people died in ICE custody between October 2025 and September 2026, marking the fiscal year 2026 as the deadliest in the agency’s recorded history.

Under the Trump administration, ICE has subjected tens of thousands of people—including U.S. citizens, lawful immigrants, and immigrants with no criminal convictions—to overcrowded rooms, unsanitary conditions, and insufficient food and water. Immigrants have been denied adequate medical care and legal counsel, and were even locked in cages.

CNN is threatening to file another lawsuit against the Trump administration for continuing to deny it access to the Air Force One press pool.

“These efforts to retaliate and discriminate against CNN based on the content of its news coverage are mistaken, counterproductive, and unlawful,” Ted Boutrous, the network’s outside counsel, wrote in a letter to the Justice Department on Tuesday. He added that CNN “will be forced to pursue additional judicial relief” if Trump does not stop.

CNN, MS NOW, and Politico all moved to sue Trump last month when he dramatically banned the trio of networks from the White House because he didn’t like the way they were covering him. While most access has been temporarily returned as the lawsuits continue in court, the administration has still decided to keep CNN off the presidential jet.

“Those spaces belong not to any particular president or administration but to all Americans, and CNN and other members of the press serve as surrogates for the public when covering the White House,” Boutrous continued. “If these actions persist … CNN will have no choice but to return to the court to defend its rights, and it is prepared to fight as long as is necessary to secure them.”

The White House maintains that its decision to shut out CNN is justified.

“No person and no journalist have a constitutional right to access to the President’s Oval Office, Air Force One, or other sensitive and private facilities,” it wrote in a statement. “When publications lie, fabricate, and ignore the truth, proximity matters less and they can write their fiction from outside of these secure facilities.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio doesn’t see anything wrong with how Donald Trump is interacting with America’s foreign adversaries.

The secretary defended Trump’s intended meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, telling reporters Tuesday morning that the U.S. president’s detractors need to “grow up.”  

“People need to grow up when it comes to foreign policy a little bit. I don’t think it’s unusual for the three most powerful, nuclear-armed nations on earth—for their leaders to communicate with one another,” Rubio said. “I think it makes all the sense in the world.”

Rubio argued that Trump “does not consider talking to someone to be a concession.”

“For example, how are you going to reach a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine if you don’t talk to Russia and Ukraine? You have to talk to them, right?” Rubio continued. “That’s the bottom line of diplomacy and negotiation.”

“Frankly, I think if there’s an opportunity … to have a conversation about things like arms control, that would be a very positive thing for the world,” he said. “I think the world is a safer place when the leaders of the world are at least communicating with each other.”

Trump mused Monday that he would be open to an unprecedented three-way meeting with Xi and Putin regarding nuclear weapons and disarmament. 

“We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “If President Xi wants to have it, I’d have it. I’m sure we’d talk about other things like trade too.”

But the optics of Trump’s latest encounters with China and Russia have leaned more toward kowtowing than communicating. Last year, Trump had the U.S. military literally roll out a red carpet for Putin during his first visit to the U.S. in more than a decade. Trump did the same for Xi last month, when service members were filmed on their hands and knees picking and brushing imperfections out of the carpet fibers.

Why was President Donald Trump waving at empty space?

A video of the president departing for Kansas Monday afternoon showed him wandering off across the White House’s newly renovated helicopter pad, waving, saluting, and bowing as if he were interacting with a crowd of onlookers. When the camera panned out, however, it was clear that there was no one in the vicinity.

From another angle, Trump can be seen dragging his right leg and patting it as he approaches Marine One. He suddenly stops walking and starts waving to no one. Meanwhile, his aides approached from an entirely different direction.

Users on X speculated that the president might’ve been hallucinating or waving at his reflection—both troubling possibilities.

Brian Krassenstein, a political podcaster and social media influencer critical of Trump, responded to the strange moment. “I now have absolutely no doubt that Donald Trump has major mental decline,” he wrote on X. “Just think for one minute if Joe Biden had waved into the abyss like Trump just did here. Imagine what Fox News would be saying.”

This isn’t the first time Trump has appeared to wander off confusedly. In October last year, Trump seemed to forget where he was going as he walked through a room filled with dignitaries and a military band during a visit to Japan, at one point even leaving Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi behind.

This strange behavior is just the latest example of Trump’s apparent cognitive decline. Since returning to office, the president has often appeared to lose track of his thoughts, his whereabouts, and even his grasp on the English language.