Protect Democracy Issues Legal Guidance Following President Trump’s Threat to Use Law Enforcement to Manipulate the Election

Washington, DC—Today, Protect Democracy released new legal guidance that details the various federal and state laws President Trump would violate if he deployed law enforcement agents to the polls on Election Day. 

The guidance follows an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Thursday night in which the president threatened to send law enforcement to the polls to prevent purported voter fraud, saying, “We’re gonna have everything: We’re gonna have sheriffs and we’re gonna have law enforcement and we’re going to have hopefully U.S. Attorneys…”

“If President Trump, his campaign, or other actors were actually to follow through on this threat, it would violate federal law and threaten a free and fair election,” said Genevieve Nadeau, Counsel with Protect Democracy. “This threat continues a pattern of abuses of power by the president in order to influence the outcome of the election. It’s critical that all election officials are aware of the legal and constitutional limitations on the president — and that they’re prepared to act as a check on his attempts to interfere with the election.”

The legal guidance is available here.

For more information on ways the President could attempt to manipulate the election, and how relevant decision makers can fight back, visit our website here.