{"id":46580,"date":"2026-02-07T12:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=46580"},"modified":"2026-02-07T12:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:36:11","slug":"beyond-crazy-fbi-summons-state-election-officials-to-secretive-meeting-after-trump-threat-to-nationalize-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/02\/07\/beyond-crazy-fbi-summons-state-election-officials-to-secretive-meeting-after-trump-threat-to-nationalize-midterms\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Beyond Crazy\u2019: FBI Summons State Election Officials to Secretive Meeting After Trump Threat to \u2018Nationalize\u2019 Midterms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"RENO,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar is driven through rural Nevada to visit and support rural county clerks approximately three weeks before the 2024 presidential election in Reno, on Friday, October 11, 2024. Aguilar was one of the state election officials invited by the FBI to a secretive meeting about the 2026 midterm elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Melina Mara\/The Washington Post via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, who received the invite, said that what the president is \u201ctrying to do is really disrupt the midterm election.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb 06, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State election officials were left unnerved after being summoned by the FBI<\/a> to a mysterious conference to discuss \u201cpreparations\u201d for this year\u2019s midterm elections<\/a>, which President Donald Trump<\/a> has recently called<\/a> for Republicans<\/a> to \u201cnationalize\u201d in violation of the Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, election officials in all 50 states received<\/a> an email from Kellie M. Hardiman, who identified herself as an \u201cFBI Election Executive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"'Beginning<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Beginning of the Chaos\u2019: FBI Raid in Georgia Seen as Ominous Sign of Trump Plans for 2026 Midterms<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"US-POLITICS-TRUMP\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Five-Alarm Fire Warning After Trump Says \u2018Republicans Ought to Nationalize the Voting\u2019<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hardiman said the officials were invited to a call on February 25 with \u201cyour election partners\u201d at the FBI, the\u00a0Department of Justice<\/a>\u00a0(DOJ), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X post: https:\/\/x.com\/mattberg33\/status\/2019560910625632442?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2019560910625632442%7Ctwgr%5E6eea316949fe17db7b0441264c6e123fe935b617%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Ffbi-secret-election-meeting<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The email, obtained<\/a> via a public records request by Matt Berg of Crooked Media<\/em>,<\/em> did not specify the purpose of the meeting other than to say it was \u201cto prepare for the 2026 US midterm elections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hardiman added that the FBI and other agencies \u201cwould like to invite you to a call where we can discuss our preparations for the cycle, as well as updates and resources we can provide to you and your staff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the email, she reiterated, \u201cWe look forward to speaking with you in support of the 2026 midterm elections.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berg said he contacted the FBI for comment, to which a spokesperson responded: \u201cThank you for reaching out. The FBI has no comment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The email has heightened fears that the Trump administration<\/a> is meddling in the midterms or planning to do so; he has suggested<\/a> on multiple occasions that the elections should be \u201ccanceled\u201d outright. Republican strategists are reportedly increasingly worried<\/a> that the GOP<\/a> could lose control of both the US Senate<\/a> and the House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the Constitution plainly states that elections are to be run by state governments, Trump earlier this week said<\/a> Republicans should \u201cnationalize\u201d elections and \u201ctake control of the voting in at least 15 places\u201d led by Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar told Berg he\u2019d never heard of a conference call like this. He said he wrote back to Hardiman: \u201cIs this real? Given what\u2019s occurred over the last two weeks, I am concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was just like, \u2018What is this?\u2019 It\u2019s the strangest thing in the world that the FBI is reaching out to us and trying to coordinate election security,\u201d Aguilar said. \u201cIt\u2019s never happened in the past. The casualness which they did\u2026 it was just beyond crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former DOJ official told Berg that while it is normal for the department to monitor elections, the email and conference call were highly unusual: \u201cI can\u2019t imagine why it would be coordinated in that way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another official who received the email told <\/a>NBC News<\/a> <\/em>that the message was \u201cunusual and unexpected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of Hardiman, the official said, \u201cNo one has heard of this person\u2014and we\u2019re all wondering what an \u2018FBI Election Executive\u2019 is.\u201d NBC<\/em> reported that a LinkedIn page for Hardiman showed she was appointed to the position seven months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inclusion of the Department of Homeland Security as one of the election \u201cpartners\u201d is also noteworthy, given the recent suggestion<\/a> by Trump ally Steve Bannon<\/a> that the president will \u201chave ICE surround the polls,\u201d referring to Immigration<\/a> and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agency has increasingly acted as a sort of paramilitary force<\/a> for Trump in the localities where it\u2019s been deployed, most recently in Minnesota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After federal agents killed three US citizens and provoked furious protests<\/a>, Trump offered<\/a> to withdraw agents from the state, but only if it turned over its voting rolls to the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Trump\u2019s apparent direction<\/a>, the FBI raided<\/a> an election hub in Atlanta last week to seize materials<\/a> from the 2020 election to further his already disproven claims that his loss to former President Joe Biden<\/a> was the result of fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And earlier this week, it was reported<\/a> that back in May, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard<\/a> sent a team to Puerto Rico to seize voting machines in an effort to investigate another outlandish Trump claim that they were hacked by Venezuela<\/a>. Sources with knowledge of the investigation told Reuters <\/em>that no evidence of that conspiracy was uncovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unconstitutional for the president to do what he wants to do,\u201d Aguilar said. \u201cWe understand that what he\u2019s trying to do is really disrupt the midterm election, because the \u201826 election is critical to the \u201828 election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aguilar said officials in Nevada are \u201cconstantly preparing and strategizing\u201d for whatever Trump might attempt and said, \u201cWe have to prepare for that litigation at a moment\u2019s notice, and we will be prepared in Nevada to push back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danny Miller, an attorney who has worked for Renew Democracy<\/a> and Democracy Forward, expressed fear about Trump\u2019s coordination of federal law enforcement agencies to patrol elections, given that he has already supported<\/a> one violent attempt to overturn his loss in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump will try to do something far worse than January 6th before all is said and done,\u201d\u00a0Miller said<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s up to civil society to use all the tools of democracy to stop him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Prager is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar is driven through rural Nevada to visit and support rural county clerks approximately three weeks before the 2024 presidential election in Reno, on Friday, October 11, 2024. Aguilar was one of the state election officials invited by the FBI to a secretive meeting about… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46580"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46580"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46581,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46580\/revisions\/46581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}