A group of pro-Trump attorneys and supporters is circulating a draft of a presidential executive order that uses alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 election — of which there is no evidence — to justify a national emergency declaration that they claim would give President Donald Trump sweeping power over voting, multiple sources told ABC News.
The 17-page draft order, which sources say Trump has reviewed, would mandate the use of voter ID and hand-counted ballots, and ban mail-in ballots ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
The attorneys pushing the draft order said they anticipate it would be incorporated into a planned executive order, which they expect to be issued soon.
It is not clear if Trump is considering or will ultimately issue the order.
“At this point, it’s got to be ASAP, because we got primaries,” said Florida attorney Peter Ticktin, who told ABC News he has been in contact with the White House about the draft order.
Ticktin, who also represents former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters, who was imprisoned for breaking into voting equipment, said the emergency declaration would empower Trump to ban electronic voting machines and mail-in ballots because they could be tools used for foreign interference.
“The most important provision, if you ask me, is the hand counting,” Ticktin said. “Get rid of the machines. That’s what we need to do right away.”
In this Nov. 8, 2016, file photo, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his wife Melania fill out their ballots at a polling station in a school in New York, during the 2016 presidential elections.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
Despite Trump’s claims, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud or foreign interference in the 2020 election. An assessment by the U.S. intelligence community found no evidence that any foreign actor altered vote tallies or changed election results in 2020.
When asked about Article I of the Constitution assigning power to regulate elections to state legislatures and Congress, Ticktin acknowledged state legislatures’ authority, but said the claims of foreign election interference justify action.
“The Constitution basically gives the power to the state legislators, not the governors, not any judges, not anything in the federal government, but just the state legislatures, the power to determine how that state is going to conduct its elections. So the President doesn’t have any power to change that … But we really do have an election emergency right now,” he said.
The Washington Post was first to report on the draft order.
Sources said President Trump has reviewed versions of the draft order and has had discussions with those involved with the effort. Ticktin told ABC News that during the drafting of the order, he has been in contact with a number of MAGA figures including Michael Flynn, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, and Patrick Byrne, all who played roles in the aftermath of the 2020 election and worked to attempt to overturn the results.
A social media post made by Trump on Feb. 13 appeared to tease an upcoming executive order on the issue.
In this Jan. 23, 2024, file photo, voter fills out their ballots in Loudon, New Hampshire.
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images, FILE
“The Democrats refuse to vote for Voter I.D., or Citizenship. The reason is very simple — They want to continue to cheat in Elections. This was not what our Founders desired,” the post said. “I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future. There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not!”
“Also, the People of our Country are insisting on Citizenship, and No Mail-In Ballots, with exceptions for Military, Disability, Illness, or Travel. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote.
Trump has also pushed Republicans to back the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and voter ID to cast ballots, which the House passed but which faces hurdles in the Senate.
Sources told ABC News that pro-Trump activists have been urging the president and White House staff for months to use an executive order to take action ahead of the midterms by declaring a national emergency.
A White House official told ABC News that staff is regularly in communication with “a variety of outside advocates who want to share their policy ideas with the President. Any speculation about policies the President may or may not announce is just that — speculation.”
Speculation about the draft order picked up steam when former White House adviser Steve Bannon discussed the idea on his War Room show last week.
In a statement to ABC News, Bannon took credit for his show championing ongoing “investigations into the ‘Big Steal’ of the 2020 election.”
Referring to the Chinese Communist Party, Bannon claimed, “There is no doubt the CCP took an active role in removing President Trump from office,” despite there being no evidence to support the allegation.
News of the draft order has received widespread backlash from Democrats, including Rep. Ted Lieu, who posted on X, “There’s no national emergency exception to Art 1, Sec 4 of the Constitution. States regulate elections unless Congress passes law. That’s why trump desperately wants to pass the save act to suppress voting.”
“Courts will slap trump [SIC] down just like they did with his illegal tariffs,” Lieu wrote.
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