In the week before President Donald Trump’s July 16 prime-time address, during which he pushed conspiracy theories that China interfered in his 2020 election defeat, Fox News has portrayed Trump as a leader on election security. However, his second administration has repeatedly taken actions to weaken the nation’s election security, including dismantling much of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, disbanding multiple task forces to combat foreign influence on elections, and failing to work with local and state officials to secure elections.Fox claims Trump will help secure America’s elections
Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer previewing Trump’s address: “He made election integrity a main pillar for his second term agenda.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 7/15/26]

Fox claims Trump will help secure America’s elections

• Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer previewing Trump’s address: “He made election integrity a main pillar for his second term agenda.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 7/15/26]

• Fox contributor Johnny Jones: “Election integrity is what President Trump is working on finding and establishing.” [Fox News, The Five, 7/10/26]
• Fox contributor Ben Domenech: “It’s a “wise move” for Trump to “make a case” for legislation related to elections because “they are popular when you look at them in a polling situation.” Domenech claimed that Americans “tried to have major changes happen in this country when it comes to election integrity. They do not believe those changes have been made. The president is arguing in favor of them.” [Fox News, Special Report, 7/14/26]
• Fox anchor Trace Gallagher defended Trump from criticism about “the GOP midterm election integrity.” Gallagher aired a clip of former CIA Director John Brennan saying that “Donald Trump is going to do everything in his power, and beyond that, to be able to affect the outcome of the election.” [Fox News, Fox News @ Night, 7/13/26]

But the Trump administration has repeatedly undermined election security

• CNN detailed how the Trump administration dismantled much of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency infrastructure that combats election threats. CNN reported that these Trump administration efforts have included firing 130 CISA staffers, “including 10 regional security specialists who worked with local and state election officials.” The acting agency director also “put all election-security and counter-disinformation work on hold pending an internal review” in early 2025. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “also ordered CISA in February and March to cancel more than $9 million in annual contracts with the Center for Internet Security, a non-profit group. Many of the cuts imposed by DHS targeted the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or EI-ISAC, which brought together more than 1,300 election and law enforcement officials around the country to help monitor and share information about threats to voting.” [CNN, 4/9/25]
• CNN also reported that the Trump administration “disbanded the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force,” which “was among several agencies that warned that Russia, Iran and other countries were conducting operations meant ‘to undermine public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and stoke divisions among Americans.’” CNN described it as “a key FBI task force charged with investigating foreign efforts to influence elections.” CNN additionally reported that the administration “also left in the wind the fate of another FBI task force that investigated threats against election workers and polling places.” [CNN, 4/9/25]
• CNN: “Secret US cyber operations shielded 2024 election from foreign trolls, but now the Trump admin has gutted protections.” CNN reported that “a year into a second Trump administration, many of the government centers previously tasked with repelling foreign influence operations have been disbanded or downsized — and local election officials are preparing to face a continued onslaught of foreign influence operations largely on their own.” The article continued: “The administration has shut down foreign-influence-focused centers at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the State Department that helped warn the public that China, Russia and Iran’s spy services were targeting Americans with election-related disinformation. The Department of Homeland Security has also slashed its election security teams, which pass intelligence to local election offices and help them defend against cyber threats.” [CNN, 1/28/26]
• NBC News reported that multiple state officials say the Trump administration has canceled election security briefings. A February article reported that several secretaries of state “said intelligence briefings from the federal government were invaluable during the first Trump administration,” but the administration stopped those briefings. The article noted that a February invitation by the Trump administration to participate in a call with the FBI about midterm election preparations was “the first time they have heard from anyone in this Trump administration about election security in months — or ever.” [NBC News, 2/9/26]
• Nextgov: Trump’s 2027 budget proposal “would notably eliminate CISA’s election security program entirely, including cutting funding for information-sharing support to state and local officials and removing dedicated election security advisors across the country.” Nextgov reported that Trump’s budget proposal “would also end CISA’s support for the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or EI-ISAC, a key hub for sharing threat intelligence, cyber alerts and incident response resources with state and local election officials.” According to the article, these actions “would scale back one of the federal government’s main avenues for coordinating with state and local election officials on election cybersecurity risks like ransomware attacks, phishing campaigns and efforts by foreign adversaries to probe election systems and conduct influence operations.” [Nextgov, 4/7/26]
• NOTUS: “The Justice Department Hasn’t Taken Its Usual Steps to Protect the 2026 Election.” NOTUS reported that “five months out from the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress, his Justice Department has canceled election-integrity training sessions for prosecutors and FBI agents, deleted a 281-page guide to prosecuting election offenses, fired most of the lawyers in its Public Integrity Section and failed to replace the director of its Election Crimes Branch.” Additionally, “the DOJ has not taken the usual steps to establish a ‘command center’ to monitor and address the typical emergencies that pop up around Election Day, three sources with knowledge of the situation told NOTUS. A command center team would address things like voter intimidation and targeted disinformation meant to hinder a fair process. These actions — and inactions — have alarmed current and former prosecutors, who say the Justice Department is not prepared to deal with threats to election integrity in the November elections.” [NOTUS, 6/8/26]
• Last week, Trump fired Democratic members of the Election Assistance Commission. On July 10, The Associated Press reported: “The White House on Friday confirmed the executive action against members of the Election Assistance Commission, which distributes federal grants to states, oversees the testing of voting systems and maintains the national voter registration form.” According to the AP, “It’s the latest instance of the Republican president trying to exert White House influence over how U.S. elections are conducted.” [The Associated Press, 7/10/26]