Trump lays the groundwork for emergency declaration ahead of midterms

July 17, 2026 — 1:56pm

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Washington: Donald Trump’s allies and fellow election conspiracy theorists did not miss a beat in the aftermath of his prime-time address alleging election meddling, fraud, and a cover-up by the country’s own intelligence community.

MAGA stalwart Steve Bannon texted me shortly afterwards: “The damning evidence unearthed … from the ‘deep state’ intelligence agencies sets the predicate for President Trump to declare a national security emergency regarding this November’s elections.

“Immediate action needs to be taken to implement the provisions of the Save America Act.”

To be fair, Bannon and his ilk have been talking about this for a while. On his radio program earlier in the day, he and fellow conservative broadcaster Wayne Allyn Root made the case for a national security emergency that Root said could only be assailed by a two-thirds vote in Congress.

“This is how Trump destroys them, and this is how we win the midterms. This is the holy grail, it’s foolproof, they can’t stop it,” Root said.

Trump airs sensational claims about ‘meddling’, data theft and fraud in US elections

“I don’t think he’ll declare it........

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