BOMBSHELL: Trump makes SHOCKING confession

This is Democracy Watch. Mark, we have. an explosive revelation from Trump. himself because he kind of abides by. this idea that if you just say the. corrupt or criminal activity out loud, somehow it doesn't it somehow it makes. it not criminal or corrupt. So, I'm. going to throw to a clip of what Trump. just said in the Oval Office. >> What exactly did you mean when you said. that you should nationalize elections? And which 15 states are you talking. about? >> I want to see elections be honest. And. if a state can't run an election, I. think the people behind me should do. something about it. Because, you know, if you think about it, a state is an.

agent for the federal government in. elections. I don't know why the federal. government doesn't do them anyway, but. when you see some of these states about. how horribly they run their elections, what a disgrace it is. I think the. federal government when you see crooked. elections, and we had plenty of them. And by the way, we had them last time, but go to 2020. Look at the facts that. are coming out. Rigged, crooked. elections. If we have areas, take a look. at Detroit, take a look at Pennsylvania, take a look at Philadelphia, you go take.

a look at Atlanta, look at some of the. places that t horrible corruption on. elections and the federal government. should not allow that. The federal. government should get involved. Uh these. are agents of the federal government to. count the votes. If they can't count the. votes legally and honestly, then. somebody else should take over. So that. was Trump saying that the states are. mere agents of the federal government. and if the states aren't going to abide. by these election rules that he's. putting forward then the federal. government has no choice but to step in.

And this kind of lends itself to this. broader idea that he's been chasing. which is uh the federal government. nationalizing our elections. So look, there's going to be people who are. watching this right now who are going to. be rightfully concerned that the federal. government is going to take over the. elections. What do you say to them? >> They should be concerned. I mean I'm. concerned. There is a reason everyone. why Brian and I keep bringing to your. attention all the times that Donald. Trump is saying out loud as Brian just. said that he is going to tamper with the.

elections. He's going to rig the. elections. He's going to steal the. elections. Just pick whatever frame. works for you. But whether it is the. effort to force Republican states to do. mid-cycle redistricting, whether it is. the bogus uh and unconstitutional. executive orders that uh he has tried to. pass uh to uh restrict voting rights uh. executive orders that my law firm and I. have recently uh defeated in court or. now whether it is this renewed idea that.

seems to be like stuck in his head. because he keeps saying it over and over. again with slightly different words. But. basically what he's saying is we. [clears throat] cannot let Democrats. count ballots because if they count. ballots we may not win the elections. And after all our candidates are really. unpopular. Donald Trump is saying I'm. really unpopular. And so our only chance. is to not let anyone accurately count. ballots. And we need to therefore take. over the vote counting. And we don't.

need to take over the vote counting. everywhere. We just need to take over. the vote counting in places where. Republicans don't already control the. vote counting process. And this, like I. said, should be alarming everyone. This. is a five alarm fire for democracy, pure. and simple. >> You know, Mark, there should be a bull. work. And in a normal world, that would. be Congress. But Mike Johnson was asked. about this exact issue. Here's what he. had to say. >> The president says that he wants. Republicans to nationalize elections. Do. you agree with him? And do you have.

confidence in how elections are. conducted right now heading into the. midterm? >> We we have thoughtful debate about our. election system uh every election cycle. and sometimes in between. We know it's. in our system. The states have been in. charge of administering their elections. What you're hearing from the president. is his frustration about the lack of. some of the blue states frankly of uh of. enforcing these things and making sure. that they are free and fair elections. Um we need constant improvement on that. front. I don't know what the ultimate. solution is going to be. I'm not going. to get ahead of the negotiations here,

but I think uh that is something that's. going to be a continuing theme here. It's something that we'll continue to. push and we hope the governors will. insist upon that same thing as well. In. some of the states, like in California, for example, I mean, they hold the. elections open for weeks after election. day. That's just one thing that that. bothers so many people. We had three. House Republican candidates who were. ahead on election day in the last. election cycle. And every time a new. trunch of ballots came in, they just. magically whittleled away until their. leads were lost. and no uh series of. ballots that were counted after election.

day were our uh candidates ahead on any. of those counts. It just it looks on its. face to be fraudulent. Can I prove that? No, because it happened so far upstream. But we need more confidence uh in the. American people in the election system. and it's essential and everybody no. matter what party you're in should agree. with that. Um the the the you know mass. mailing of paper ballots of mailin. ballots and all the other irregularities. that that have that have haunted us over. the last couple cycles. We need to. tighten that up. Now, the red states. have done a lot of good work in that in. that front, but it's the blue states.

that I'm frankly concerned about. So, we'll see how the how the law is. modified and what's changed, but I hope. we can get consensus to get that done. >> So, rather than talking some sense into. the situation or being some moderating. force, Mike Johnson's just fanning the. flames of conspiracy that Trump has. glombmed onto. And clearly, he's not. going to be an obstacle in Trump's. efforts to undermine the next election. He's going to he's going to help him. He's going to help him do it. he's going. to just help offer him a glide path to. do exactly that. Your reaction to what. Mike Johnson just said here?

>> Mike Johnson is just ready to be a. conspirator in the stealing of. elections. You know, this guy is an. election denier through and through. I. wrote about him on Democracy Docket. years ago because in the 2020 election. aftermath, he was as a backbencher in. the Republican conference, one of the. ring leaders, one of the people who. organized the effort to try to block the. counting of ballots by organizing a a. brief before the Supreme Court and then.

ultimately organizing Republicans on the. evening of January 6th, even after the. violence, to vote against certification. So that's who that's who Mike Johnson. is. But Brian, you make a really really. important point that I want to like. hammer home for people. The Constitution. says that states have the authority to. set the time, place, and manner of. elections. Okay? So they get to run. elections. It gives the president no. role, like explicitly no role. And that. was, like I said, in that court decision.

that uh you and I covered that my law. firm and I won involving Trump's. executive order, right? The the court. said the president has no role, but. Congress does have a potential role. Right? Congress's job is if it believes. that the state rules are not. appropriate, Congress through. legislation can pass voting rules, can. pass election rules. But Mike Johnson. isn't going to do that because he can't. because he doesn't have the votes to do.

it. he doesn't have support uh in the. House probably to pass it and he. certainly can't get it through the. Senate. So instead of Mike Johnson. saying you know what it is our power, it. is our constitutional prerogative. So. even though I might agree with the. president about what changes should be. made, the most important thing everyone. as the speaker of the house is to insist. that Congress's prerogatives be. protected. Like that's what a. conservative. speaker would say. I wouldn't agree with.

much of that, but he would say it. Instead, Mike Johnson is like literally. spawning new conspiracy theories, right? I mean, >> Brian, you heard him. He's spawning. conspiracy theories Donald Trump didn't. even come up with about California. >> And Brian, is it any surprise that the. state that comes to mind when Mike. Johnson, who's facing losing his gavl, >> uh, focuses on is California? Gee, Brian, I wonder why he picked that.

state. >> Right. Let's let's before we go on to. the next question, I do want to note. that that you pointed out the fact that. your law firm is is not only litigating. against this this administration, but. winning cases, especially as it relates. to elections against this. administration. In fact, your law firm. is right now the only thing standing. between the Trump administration gaining. private data from voters in 24 different. states and jurisdictions. So 24. different uh states plus Washington DC. that you guys are the only thing. standing between that information going.

to the Trump administration or staying. at the states obviously hugely hugely. important. So a small step that. everybody watching right now can take to. support the invaluable work that Mark. and his team are doing not just in the. media space but also in the legal space. is to sign up for democracy docket. So. I'm going to put that link right here on. the screen and also in the post. description of this video. Mark, I just. want to talk about one of these. conspiracy theories because, you know, once somebody gives it oxygen, obviously. it it it spreads like wildfire. And so. this is an easy one for you, but this.

idea per Mike Johnson that the votes. were a certain way, but then more votes. would come in and it would change the. outcome and they were more Democratic. and less Republican. What do you have to. say about that? >> You know, Mike Johnson should be ashamed. of himself. You know, Mike Johnson knows. better. Mike Johnson's a politician. has. been around. He can do the whole all. shucks thing. I don't know this. I don't. know that. But it's a bunch of. Mike Johnson knows the truth, which is. that the ballots that he is complaining. about were lawfully cast. They were cast. by US citizens who are properly. registered to vote who had every right.

to cast their ballot. And because in. California, there are a lot of people, like there are a lot a lot of people in. the state of California, and they. receive a lot of mail-in ballots, it. takes them more than just election night. to tally up all those ballots. So there. is nothing unusual about that. There is. no reason to be suspicious. In fact, you. know, if California were telling up all. their ballots, the, you know, the tens. of millions of people on election night, then Republicans would be saying there. must be fraud because there's no way.

they could be accurately counting all. those ballots by the end of election. night. Right? So the Republicans have. this coming and going. They just don't. like the outcome in California. and they. don't like the outcome particularly. because Gavin Newsome with your help by. the way and everyone needs to know you. know Brian doesn't take a lot of credit. for this but Brian was instrumental in. helping build a public narrative and. public support for that ballot. initiative Prop 50 that led to the.

redrawing of the California lines and. the adding of five additional Democratic. seats. So please do me a favor, subscribe to this channel and hit the. bell to make sure you're alerted when. there's new content. It's not just a way. that you can keep up to date on what he. and I are covering, what else he's. covering on his channel, but also you'd. be you will be following someone who is. really doing everything he can right now. in the face of all of the attacks on. democracy. But but you know, Brian, I. tie this together because I don't think. it is a coincidence that he picked on. California. Republicans are obsessed by.

California. Their partisan gerrymander. in Texas is looking a little iffy right. now, Brian, based on those uh Senate. state senate results in Texas, but and. their situation in California looks even. worse, right? Because as we see the. popularity of the president Wayne, you. know, they're they're potentially not. going to get the benefit of their. partisan gerrymander in in Texas. And. they are obsessed obsessed with the fact. that California redrew its lines. You. know, they are going uh to the US. they've gone to the US Supreme Court. My.

law firm is defending that California. map right now as we record this uh uh in. the in the US Supreme Court having won. that case in the lower federal courts. But Brian, I think you can't disconnect. these things. He Donald Trump wanted to. rig the elections. Mike Johnson, a. willing co-conspirator there with these. bid cycle redistricting when that looks. like it's not panning out. Donald Trump. all of a sudden talks about taking over. the counting of ballots. And by the way, he's wrong. The states are not agents of. the federal government. that has the.

that is constitutional nonsense. Um uh. and again Mike Johnson should know that. But but but Brian, they are tying they. are tying these things together so that. when we get to election night and the. days after and California looks like the. thing that is going to make Democrats be. in the majority or expand that majority. You see what Mike Johnson's already. planning? >> Yeah, I think that's perfectly put. Again, for those who are watching right. now, if you want to follow all of this.

and support the invaluable work that. Mark is doing and his team are doing. both in the media and in court, the best. way to do that once more is to subscribe. to Democracy Docket. It's a resource. that I use on a daily basis, and I can. guarantee you that you will not regret. signing up. So, I'm going to put that. link right here on the screen and also. in the post description of this video. And of course, if you want to see more. episodes of Democracy Watch, that link's. on the screen as well. I'm Brian Taylor. Cohen. >> I'm Mark Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch. [music].