The midterms are just two weeks away and President Trump is using his power to intimidate the people who run our elections, putting the voting system under remarkable stress.
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who → use → stress
The latest move came on Friday when the Justice Department threatened to prosecute California election officials if they knowingly count mail-in ballots from 20,000 people the Trump administration says are "likely noncitizens."
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administration → come → people
It's the latest in a sequence of actions that has bred an erosion of faith in the integrity of our elections.
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that → breed → elections
Our story focuses on how state and local election officials are being pressured - in a way that is stoking that distrust.
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that → focus → distrust
We start with what happened in Georgia this past January.
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what → start → Georgia
What you're seeing is extraordinary: armed federal agents seizing ballots from a local election facility.
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seeing → see → facility
In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that we would be raided by the FBI.
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we → imagine → FBI
Fulton County Commissioner Democrat Dana Barrett got a text message that sent her racing to this warehouse near Atlanta.
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that → get → Atlanta
Were the FBI agents inside by the time you got here?
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you → get → time
They had vests.
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They → have → vests
They had guns.
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They → have → guns
They had all of the equipment on their belts as if they were raiding a drug house.
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they → have → house
There were dozens of agents who gained entry to the warehouse with a criminal search warrant that allowed them to seize ballots and other election materials from the 2020 election.
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them → be → election
Is there any way that you could have said no?
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you → say → ?
They had a valid warrant signed by a judge.
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They → have → judge
We did not have a choice.
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We → have → choice
The agents worked all day packing up more than 600 boxes of election records.
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agents → work → records
After night fell and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard arrived, the boxes were loaded onto trucks and disappeared.
Lesley
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boxes → fall → trucks
We have no idea.
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We → have → idea
You don't know where they took them?
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they → know → them
Do you know what they were going for?
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they → know → what
Look, it was in my opinion political theater aimed at undermining the 2026 and 2028 elections.
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it → look → elections
You think it was an intimidation for the next election?
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it → think → election
I think it was all part of this concerted effort that's happening nationwide to undermine faith in elections.
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that → think → elections
We obtained this internal FBI email temporarily reassigning "260" analysts to work on a "priority investigation" into the Georgia materials.
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We → obtain → materials
That was three months ago... and nothing has come of it yet.
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nothing → come → it
There have been dozens of probes into the 2020 election in Georgia and none have moved the needle.
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none → move → needle
You take a fraudulent claim.
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You → take → claim
You investigate it at the state level.
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You → investigate → level
Then the federal level refers to what the state did.
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state → refer → what
And people just see all of these investigations and FBI raids and subpoenas and they say, "Something must be wrong there.
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Something → see → investigations
Why should I believe the results?"
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I → believe → results
The Trump administration has cast more doubt about the reliability of our elections by investigating voting machines and actual ballots, which the Justice Department has attempted in several states.
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Department → cast → states
The lieutenant governor of Utah, Deidre Henderson, told us it's a kind of interference she's never seen before.
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she → tell → interference
In the past two elections that I oversaw as lieutenant governor the threats were all external.
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threats → oversee → governor
But now we also have threats coming from within our own government.
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we → have → government
Henderson is responsible for Utah's elections: everything from voter registration to counting the ballots on Election Day.
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Henderson → count → Day
Keep in mind Henderson is a Republican in a deeply red state.
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Henderson → keep → state
President Trump won the last election here by more than 20 points.
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Trump → win → points
Last year the Justice Department zoned in on Henderson, and her counterparts in states across the country, demanding their "statewide voter registration list," which includes voters' confidential personal information.
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which → zone → information
…and 81 more, not listed.
The Aporia
