“Late night purge!” Trump pulls BOMBSHELL stunt against elections

This is Democracy Watch, Mark. We have a. five-alarm fire here, and that is that. Donald Trump has now taken aim at one. independent election agency where he's. done a late-night gutting. of a bunch of the Democrats who were on. that commission. Can you explain what. the deal is here? >> Yeah, so there's a government agency. called the Election Assistance. Commission. It was set up in 2002 after. the Bush versus Gore debacle, and it is a bipartisan agency of four. commissioners, two Democrats, two. Republicans, and it is essentially a.

clearinghouse of information and. expertise to states running elections. It's It's kind of like the technical. expertise, everything from certifying. voting equipment to, for, you know, providing forms to just technical. expertise about how to run elections. Well, in a late-night purging, Donald. Trump fired the two Democrats and forced. the one Republican on the commission to. resign, which means there are now no.

commissioners. There was already one. vacancy. There are now no commissioners. on this vital elections agency as we. head towards this November. And, Brian, this is not just a five-alarm fire in. the damage that has been done. This is a. glaring siren about what is yet to come. Donald Trump is telling us that he's. going to remove from the field the. referees so that he can play dirty, that. he can cheat, and there will be no one. there to stop him. Well, my message is.

we'll be there, and we will stop you. >> Give me a lay of the land in terms of. what Donald Trump now feels at least. like he's emboldened to do now that. these referees are gone. >> Yeah, okay. So, we got to go back in. time. And you and I did a video on this. at the time. We've We've covered it. several times since. In March of 2025, he issued an executive order to try to. take over federal elections. Remember. this? He issued this order saying that.

I'm going to decree, you know, that this. will be done with how the proof of. citizenship has to happen on forms, and. I'm going to, you know, do this with. respect to voting equipment. It was a. massive power grab by Donald Trump to. try to take over federal elections. Well, at the core of that was his effort. in that executive order to direct the. Election Assistance Commission to do. those things. So, when we talk about him. issuing an executive order to grab. control of elections, what he actually.

did was issue an executive order to try. to force the Elections Assistance. Commission to do his bidding. Well, we. blocked that in court. We prevented that from happening. But, since then, the EAC continues to do. its work. And I think that it is no. coincidence that as he issued his second. executive order, that has also now been. blocked in court, he's decided that he. wants to remove out of the equation. entirely the agency that he was trying.

to act through. Now, why do I think he's. doing this? Cuz I think he thinks that. without them in the way, he will, himself, out of the White House, and. Todd Blanche out of the Department of. Justice, just try to do this stuff. themselves. >> To what extent does the Slaughter. decision at the Supreme Court, which. basically gave Donald Trump carte. blanche to interfere in what were. previously independent agencies, to what. extent does the Slaughter decision give. Trump the ability to do this this. late-night purge?

>> Well, look, you're you're reading the. the minds of the White House, which I. don't know what that says about you, Brian. That's what they said. They said. that look, you know, after the Slaughter. decision, this is the prerogative of the. president, and the president wants to. fire these agency heads, he's entitled. to do so. Now, there is some ambiguity. about whether Slaughter actually covers. these bipartisan balanced agencies, but. like that's a fight that will be for. another day or month or frankly year.

before that would even go before, you. know, the courts to to do anything if. they even stood in the way. So that's. that's not an obstacle for now, but. there's no question that the Slaughter. decision was the impetus for the. president acting now as opposed to I. suspect he might have acted earlier. >> Do you Can you opine on the legality of. this move? Do you think that Slaughter. applies to his ability to be able to to. gut this bipartisan agency? >> Look, I think there are several. important questions here and they're.

ones that we're going to have to. confront as a democracy and they are not. easy ones. The first is does he have the. power to fire commissioners from a. bipartisan independent agency? And by. that what I mean is that there are a. handful of these agencies like the. Election Assistance Commission, like the. Federal Election Commission which. governs campaign finance laws in the. federal elections, that Congress set up. intentionally not just to have Democrats. and Republicans, but to have equal. numbers of them, right? So that that you. could not have partisan advantage. So in.

the case of the Federal Election. Commission, there are three Republicans, three Democrats and you need four votes. in order to do anything. In the case of. the Election Assistance Commission, two. Democrats, two Republicans, you need. three votes in order to do anything, right? So there is this question as to. whether or not Slaughter applies to. those agencies. There's a separate. question, Brian, which is if it does, then frankly do those agencies even. survive? Because would Congress really. have set up an agency that governs. things like certification of election.

equipment. if one party, you know, the party of the president. could control it? >> Right. >> Would they have set up an agency at all. governing campaign finance if one if one. party could dominate and decide who. broke the rules and who didn't break the. rules, right? So So those are the two. questions that the courts would have to. deal with. Number one, does he have the. power? Number two, would the do the. agency survive if not? And look, do I. think that John Roberts, Chief Justice. Roberts, and uh the the the. conservatives will hit pause? No, I.

don't. I think that they will say that. unitary executive means that every. agency other than the the Federal. Reserve, uh Donald Trump gets to do what. he wants. And uh even if that weren't. the case, like I said, you know, getting. these cases litigated on a timetable to. have impact here is just not realistic. So, look, I I always hate to say we're. on our own, Brian, but we're kind of on. our own on this one. And, you know, we. all need to batten down the hatches and, you know, get ready to litigate, which I.

promise you we are. We need to get ready. to call this out, which is why you and I. are doing this uh this video right now. We're like we're we're at the cutting. edge of this. So, I hope everyone has. subscribed to this channel because this. is where you're getting that cutting. edge news. Uh and I hope everyone's. ready to vote this November because we. need Democrats to be in charge going. forward. >> Well, look, I I think it's also worth. noting that uh you know, in terms of. being on the front lines of this stuff, there is no better example uh than you. and your team. You're litigating more. than 80 cases against this.

administration right now, and frankly, you're winning the vast majority of. these cases as well. And so, a small. step everybody can take right now to. show some support for the work that Mark. and his team are doing uh is to sign up. for Democracy Docket, which is the news. outlet he founded to focus on everything. voting and elections. It is very quickly. becoming the premier uh uh. uh voting rights and democracy um media. outlet that there is. So, it's something. I use on a daily basis as well. So, I'm. going to put a link right here on the. screen and also in the post description. of this video. If you are not yet. subscribed, especially with midterms. right around the corner, this is the.

outlet you need to be subscribed to and. getting your news from on a daily basis. Mark, to that end, given the fact that this agency has now. been dismantled, Does that have any um. um major tangible effect on the work. that you're going to be doing? Was this. agency already serving as a bullwark. that then with its dissolution suddenly. makes Donald Trump uh uh a little bit. more dangerous? Like, what are the. practical implications of of this of. this purge?

>> Yeah, so I think I think Trump's going. to try to pull three things. over on us. Number one, there has been a lot of. reporting, some some hard reporting from. from legacy outlets, a lot of rumor. beyond that, that we are headed towards. Donald Trump trying to declare some sort. of state of emergency, perhaps on the. pretext of some foreign interference, who knows. But, you know, having the. Election Assistance Commission off the. playing field to basically say what. Donald Trump is saying about voting.

equipment, for example, is not true. uh is a big deal. Number two, I mentioned voting equipment. because one of the things that the. Election Assistance Commission does is. it certifies voting equipment. Now, to. be clear, states don't have to follow. that certification. So, it's not like. it's a federal certification that states. have to follow. It's it's more like the. Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval that. that a lot of states rely on. But, this. this certification has been under the. claw of the election denier movement for. some number of years because, of course,

they've been attacking the voting. equipment from 2020 and after 2020, and. that equipment has been approved by the. EAC. So, it would not surprise me. In. fact, it would surprise me the other way. if we do not see some effort by the. federal government now, maybe the. Department of Justice, maybe the Office. of National Security, to falsely claim. that our nation's election equipment has. been infiltrated or somehow not. reliable. And since the EAC is not. anymore in in a position to audit it and.

refute that, I think that is on the. horizon. And then number three, you. know, going back to the original. executive order that we fought and won, you know, look, the one of the things. that the EAC does is it provides a. federal registration form, a form that. is good in all 50 states, and Donald. Trump wants a proof of citizenship on. that form. And that's what he tried to. direct the EAC to do. That's what we. sued and blocked. And, you know, we know. how much energy Donald Trump has put in. through the SAVE Act to try to get proof.

of citizenship. We know how much he's. threatening states with with withholding. funds, right? And so, I think that that. he's going to try to use the fact that. the EAC is now essentially defunct to. try to once again claim the power, maybe. unilaterally, maybe he'll take out a. sharpie and draw it onto the form. himself, and then make the agencies. distribute it. >> Is there a way that the states could. step in to pick up the slack in the. absence of the EAC, or is this something. that Trump is going to claim still oh. still is owned by the federal government.

just how he wants to do it? >> So, look, here's the good news and bad. news. The good news is that the states. run the elections. So, fundamentally, at. the end of the day, like I mentioned the. voting equipment, yeah, the EAC. certified voting equipment, and most. states, or at least. many states triggered their own laws off. of that certification, but technically, states didn't have to, right? States can. do what they want, and they're not bound. by the federal government when it comes. to the administration of elections. So, that's the good news. The bad news is. that one of the consequences of the EAC.

being sidelined, which we really haven't. covered cuz it's not in my belly wick. But, if you had a secretary of state on. right now, what they'd tell you is they. rely on the EAC for just a ton of. day-to-day technical information and. advice, right? The EAC just has a lot of. expertise in the mechanics of how you. actually conduct elections. So, they're. kind of like the federal government's. experts. It's kind of like, you know, dissolving the, you know, the the the.

parts of the NIH, you know, that are. experts on, you know, rare diseases. And. we've seen what's happened when when. when that has happened under Secretary. Kennedy, right? Where you you do away. with these panels of experts, and then. people who rely on those experts are. like, we needed that. And so, this is. going to negatively impact states, red. and blue alike, because the EAC is a. clearinghouse for expert disease and. analysis. and information about how to run. elections. And that will be another.

unfortunate side light. Don't Again, not. one that I will litigate over, but as a. citizen, as someone who wants free and. fair elections, I will worry about. >> And last question here, what do you. expect next steps immediately to be on. this on this issue? >> Look, I think the two things we have to. look for. Number one, do any of the. commissioners sue? Right? We've talked. about the Slaughter case. The Slaughter. case only comes into being if, you know, if the Commissioner Slaughter brings the. case, right? So, the So, question number. one is, do any of the commissioners sue?

Uh the second thing to look at is on the. other side. We are clearly heading. towards some type of major uh situation. coming out of this White House involving. an effort to subvert the 2026 elections. Now, that's not to say we haven't seen. that already. Of course, we've seen that. already, but they've been stalemated, and they've been humiliated, and they've. lost, and they're not getting a say. back. And I predict that in the next few. days or weeks at the most, Donald Trump.

is going to do or announce something. dramatic, like something outside the. box. And I suspect that dismantling the. EAC is a part of laying the foundation. for that to happen, and so that there. are not experts to call out the. and the nonsense. Now, could it be, as been as long been rumored, that. Maduro cut some kind of deal and says, you know, there was tampering? Could it. be that, you know, the ODNI, you know,

issues some nonsense report about. interference in the 2020 election? I. don't know, but I know this. They're. sidelining these experts at the EAC for. a reason, and it's almost certainly. because they want to lie to the American. public, and they want to engage in a. power grab, and we're not going to stand. for it. >> Well, look, I I think that underscores. the need for having people in a position. for their voice to be amplified to call. that stuff out, and there's nobody. better positioned than you. So, everybody watching right now, please. make sure to subscribe to Democracy. Docket. That link is right here on the. screen, and also in the post description.

of this video. Again, could not be more. important than it is right now. And as. an addition to that, if you want to. continue to see more episodes of. Democracy Watch, the link to subscribe. to this channel is on the screen as. well. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen. >> I'm Marc Elias. >> This is Democracy Watch. >> [music].