Try and Stop Us Digest — July 16, 2026

CBS News: Trump to allege Chinese meddling in U.S. elections in primetime speech, sources say. Sources say Trump plans to unveil a brand-new conspiracy theory tonight: that China compromised U.S. voter data, and the CIA sat on it. One problem — the intelligence community already looked at this. Its 2021 assessment found with “high confidence” that China never touched election infrastructure at all.

Politico: “Scared s–tless”: Republicans brace for Trump's primetime speech. Even Trump's own party is bracing for tonight — worried he'll torch a winning message on the economy to relitigate 2020 grievances instead. “The people I talk to are scared shitless,” said a former Trump administration official. “It's not scared shitless about the text of what he's going to say, it's, what does he add to the text?” Sen. Jon Ossoff summed up the stakes at Clayton's hearing this week: “Isn't it humiliating to be unable to answer this question, to have to indulge the president's delusions?”

Axios: Trump vote-fraud speech traps TV networks. Trump's primetime address Thursday night is forcing TV networks to choose: air potential 2020 election falsehoods, or risk backlash from a White House that's shown little hesitation in confronting the media. Trump has said that his 9pm ET speech from the East Room will focus on “free and fair elections,” promising a “very big announcement” about the security of the U.S. voting system. He hasn't specifically said whether he'll bring up the 2020 election. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios: “President Trump will deliver a major address to the nation on protecting the integrity of our elections. We encourage every American to watch the president's speech.” By signaling he may revisit 2020 without saying exactly how, Trump has left the networks to decide whether to air the speech without knowing whether it'll be largely about long-debunked election claims.

CNBC: Trump's pick to head national intelligence, Jay Clayton, won't tell senators Biden won the 2020 election. Trump's pick to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to say whether President Joe Biden won the 2020 election during his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday. Jay Clayton, Trump's former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, repeatedly dodged the question when pressed by Democratic senators. “I'm not going to relitigate the 2020 election,” Clayton said when asked directly by Senator Maggie Hassan whether he accepted that Biden won. Clayton also said he would not characterize Trump's false claims about the 2020 election as the “Big Lie,” despite extensive documentation from courts, audits, and Trump's own Justice Department that the election was secure.

Axios: Blanche sidesteps questions on federal agents at polls. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche declined Wednesday to explicitly rule out deploying federal agents to polling places, saying only that he would “follow the law.” When Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked whether Blanche would “commit to following clear federal law” by not deploying armed federal agents to polling places, Blanche replied that he would “commit to following the law … no matter what it includes.” Klobuchar also asked if he understood why federal agents are a concern to voters, as some advocacy groups say it's a form of voter intimidation. “I'm not aware of armed agents being at polling places, so I don't. I'm not aware of that concern, but I will tell you we will follow the law.” Federal law generally prohibits “troops or armed men” from being deployed to polling places, except in narrow circumstances, such as repelling “armed enemies” of the U.S.

ProPublica: FBI has looked at using questionable AI tech to review signatures on seized mail-in ballots. The FBI has explored using artificial intelligence to assess the validity of signatures on tens of thousands of mail-in ballot envelopes seized from Fulton County, Georgia, the latest push in the Trump administration's unprecedented reinvestigation of the 2020 vote. The effort focuses on comparing signatures on ballot envelopes with signatures on other election documents, such as registration forms. Experts have raised serious concerns about how accurately signature matching can identify voter fraud: a political scientist testifying as an expert witness in 2020 for a lawsuit challenging an Ohio signature-matching law said his analysis suggested that 32 legitimate ballots were blocked for every illegitimate one. “Signatures are one of the most difficult forensic sciences, and I don't think AI is going to be able to do this,” said Linton Mohammed, a former president of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners. There are grave concerns within the FBI that the results will reflect political influence. “Everyone is of the opinion that, whether they find anything or not, they are going to continue” to pursue proof of fraud, one source said.

Politico: “Death by a thousand cuts”: Inside Trump's remaking of American elections. No single move is the headline. That's the strategy. “This is a concerted effort of death by a thousand cuts,” said Michigan clerk Barb Byrum. Even Stephen Richer — the Republican Trump's allies tried to destroy for telling the truth about 2020 — says there's a “scary” version of this where Trump actually interferes with an election, and he “wouldn't say is probable, but I think it's possible.” Wisconsin's Ann Jacobs put it plainly: “Do I think this is part of the pattern and intentionality of undermining confidence in elections? Yes, yes, I do.”

KJZZ: Maricopa County supervisors and recorder agree to settlement to resolve election fight. The Board of Supervisors and Recorder Justin Heap settled their yearlong dispute over election control. “This agreement lets us do what I have wanted to do since I took office: make Maricopa County boring again,” said Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee.

Democracy Docket: DOJ wants to help anti-voting group purge California rolls. Judicial Watch — the group leading purge lawsuits across the country — wants nearly a million Californians off the rolls. Now Trump's DOJ wants to help them do it, giving the state until Aug. 5 to comply.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Trump's planned speech could put Georgia's 2020 election back in focus. The documents Trump may unveil tonight are expected to target Georgia's 2020 results and the Senate runoffs that sent Ossoff and Warnock to Washington. Six years later, he's still relitigating the state that broke his winning streak.

NBC News: GOP's Dallas Woodhouse resigns from N.C. auditor's office after early voting influence campaign. Longtime Republican operative Dallas Woodhouse resigned from the North Carolina auditor's office Monday, days after he was ordered to stop working on election matters. State Auditor Dave Boliek reassigned Woodhouse last week after reporting from NBC News and other outlets revealed Woodhouse was using his position to shape counties' early voting plans for the November election.

Votebeat: Pennsylvania secretary responds to Trump administration's threat of criminal charges over noncitizen voters. Secretary Al Schmidt gave no indication Pennsylvania would change any election policies in response to DOJ's threat letter, instead detailing the state's existing safeguards.

Votebeat: Trump teases “very big announcement” about elections, but it's unclear what it will be

CNN: Trump's address is likely to cast new cloud over midterm elections

Politico: Trump's pick for spy chief: “I'm not an election denier”

Democracy Docket: DHS relaunches voter purge database in 4 red states

Democracy Docket: USPS says it's not implementing Trump's anti-mail voting order, for now

New York Times: House G.O.P. releases budget to unlock $95 billion for Iran war and SAVE Act

The Hill: Trump endorses “Pillow Man” Mike Lindell in Minnesota governor's race

Philadelphia Inquirer: Former Bucks County man who voted twice for President Donald Trump in 2020 sentenced to six months of house arrest