CREW requests OMB and DOJ communications with election-deniers and records on federal involvement in elections

CREW filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Justice seeking records of communications with outside groups and activists who have pushed election conspiracy theories, as well as records concerning the federal government’s role in state and federal elections.

President Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the validity of American elections and, at times, suggested canceling, postponing or delaying them. Before the 2020 election, for example, he posted on social media, without factual support, that “universal mail-in voting” would make the election the “most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history” and a “great embarrassment to the USA.” He also proposed delaying the election until people could “properly, securely and safely vote.” 

During his second term, Trump repeated unsupported claims that mail-in ballots and certain voting machines increase voter fraud and fraudulent elections—claims he had previously suggested could justify delaying elections. Other senior administration officials, including DOJ leadership, former Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, have similarly engaged in election denialism and, in some cases, sought to aid Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. 

The White House is also reportedly communicating with election deniers about using national emergency powers to take presidential control over the upcoming midterm elections. In fact, well-known election denier Jerome Corsi indicated on a podcast that the president had been in communication with outside groups “taking some strong executive action and executive order” to ensure the 2026 midterm elections would not be “stolen.” 

President Trump’s and other federal officials’ repeated calls for federal interference in American elections—and the government’s efforts to carry out that interference—raise serious questions about the scope of the federal government’s authority in federal and state elections. 

The records CREW requests will give the public vital information about how OMB and DOJ interpret the laws that define and constrain the federal government’s role in election administration, whether that interpretation has changed and whether outside entities may have contributed to any changes.