Try and Stop Us Digest — July 17, 2026

NOTUS: Trump ordered the FBI and DOJ to investigate and bring charges over “evidence” of foreign interference and noncitizen voting that doesn't hold up. The declassified documents Trump cited “largely do not contain new information,” and none show any foreign actor changed the outcome of a single U.S. election.

Axios: Trump's own DNI said this exact claim about Chinese interference was “not credible” — in writing, back in 2021. Trump claimed China stole 220 million voter files. The 2021 Intelligence Community Assessment found “no indications” any foreign actor altered any technical aspect of the vote.

Mediaite: Buried in Trump's own document dump: a report showing Russia tried to help him win. A declassified 2020 assessment released by the White House itself says Russian officials worked to spread pro-Trump, anti-Biden narratives — the opposite of the case Trump was trying to make.

Democracy Docket: The Michigan case Trump called damning was settled years ago with zero fraudulent votes cast. “Long-debunked and baseless,” said Michigan's top election official within minutes of the speech ending. Sen. Elissa Slotkin said Trump's rhetoric raises real fears he'll try to seize voting machines.

Politico: When networks refused to platform the lies live, Trump threatened their broadcast licenses. ABC and NBC didn't air the address. Trump's response was to call for revoking their licenses.

Politico: DHS now claims it found over 250,000 noncitizens on the rolls across four states — but won't say if a single one of them voted, or how it got the numbers. The count — 190,832 in California, plus tens of thousands in New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania — is far higher than any prior review. A federal judge already found DHS's citizenship database wrongly flags real citizens as ineligible.

New York Times: Republicans can't pass the SAVE Act on its own, so they're smuggling it into a reconciliation package. The plan pairs $73 billion for the Iran war with Trump's voter ID and citizenship-proof demands. “This ‘America Last' budget would add tens of billions more to the national debt to fund the most unpopular war in American history,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the Budget Committee's top Democrat.

Washington Examiner: Even a Senate Republican says the math doesn't work — and is threatening to blow up his own party's bill to stop it. “Don't fool the American people into thinking you can implement something of this complexity over 60 days,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), vowing to “slow down the wheels of government” if the bill reaches the floor this way.

CBS News: While Trump was warning about election vulnerabilities, his own administration cut nearly a third of the agency that protects elections from hacking. Nearly 1,000 CISA staffers left or were removed by mid-2025. The FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force was disbanded on Day One of this term. The Election Assistance Commission has no active leadership at all.

New York Times / The Independent: Recorder Justin Heap — who won't say the 2020 or 2022 elections were fair, and is backed by Stephen Miller's America First Legal — keeps control of voter registration and early voting, plus $15 million for a new IT system. The lone Democrat on the board voted no: “This is not the last of it,” said Steve Gallardo.

New York Times: “The world's most famous sore loser,” Ossoff called Trump. Warnock called him “a liar, a cheater and a fraud.” Even Senate Majority Leader Thune publicly distanced himself from relitigating the race.

Kansas Reflector: The injunction blocks a GOP law that would've tossed ballots arriving up to 3 days after Election Day — a rule that would have disqualified 2,100+ legitimate votes in 2024 alone.

WRAL: New rules make it easier to reject voter ID exemptions and throw out ballots. “We're supporting a lie,” said Democratic board member Jeff Carmon.

New York Times: A Trump obsession that carries a cost for democracy

New York Times: Trump again makes unverifiable claims of noncitizen voting

New York Times: Trump exaggerates claims about election vulnerabilities in speech

New York Times: Multiple investigations refuted Trump's claims that fraud altered the outcome in 2020

New York Times: Trump has systematically dismantled election security efforts. Here's how

Politico: How Trump might try to relitigate 2020 — and the facts he's up against

Politico: Trump rails against election systems — and familiar enemies

MS Now: Election denial activists briefed at White House ahead of Trump's primetime speech

CNN: Officials debated White House push to declassify documents amid Trump campaign to sow election mistrust, sources say

CNN: Prominent 2020 election deniers praise Trump address

The Bulwark: Can this pseudo-journalist destroy American democracy?

Talking Points Memo: The ‘Doom' computer game was part of Trump's wild and baseless ‘election security nightmare'

Deseret News: VP Vance says Republicans will accept midterm results even if SAVE America Act isn't passed

The Guardian: House Republicans resurrect Save America Act by adding it to spending bill

AL.com: Tuberville claims ‘four or five' US senators ‘didn't legally win' but offers no evidence

Semafor: Trump's election security speech squeezes Republicans

Zeteo: A pro-Trump private investigator is investigating elections in Georgia