Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said President Donald Trump was trying to “interfere in the upcoming 2026 election.”
Host Dana Bash said, “The Attorney General, Pam Bondi, sent a letter to Minnesota officials offering to take ICE out of the state of Minnesota. Does three things. First, share all of Minnesota’s records on the Medicaid and Food and Nutrition Service programs. Second, repeal the sanctuary policies. And third, allow the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department to access voter rolls. Your reaction?”
Murphy said, “So I think you’re getting to the bottom of what’s happening here. And I wish this weren’t true, but Donald Trump has made it clear that he intends to try to interfere in the upcoming 2026 election. He says that is, you know, one regret from 2020 was that he didn’t take the voting machines. And it is really alarming that in this letter, Bondi says, well, we’ll get the ICE officers out of Minneapolis if you give us control of your voter lists. It is always been, I think, the fear. And now I think closer to the reality that the Trump administration is creating this mayhem, particularly in cities, in swing states, in order to take control of the election, to say, oh, it’s the city’s out of control, the state’s out of control. You can’t trust the state government. We just need to run the election in November. I know to some people that may sound a little conspiratorial, but Trump has told you over and over again that he regrets that you didn’t interfere in the prior election. And this letter seems pretty definitive proof that they are trying to trade the presence of ICE and the murder and mayhem that they are causing for control of Minnesota’s elections.”
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