President Donald J. Trump holds a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (Official White House photo by Daniel Torok)

The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee stoked fears Sunday that President Donald Trump will “close down elections” and “seize polling stations.”

The claim was voiced by Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who warned about Bill Pulte, the current director of the Federal Housing Agency whom Trump has selected as acting director of national intelligence, or DNI.

Warner said on CNN’s “State of the Union” about Pulte: “What he could do is take a single piece of intelligence that may not be corroborated or make something up and say Country X is gonna interfere or is sending people to encourage non-citizens to vote, and that be used as an excuse for Trump to bring in ICE, federal troops, close down elections, seize polling stations. The list is extraordinarily frightening.”

🚨 WOW! Dem Sen. Mark Warner is PANICKING that federal agents could be sent to polling stations and shut down elections because of DNI Bill Pulte

He’s making crap up because the REAL FRAUD might get exposed!

“Close down elections, seize polling stations.” 🤡

If there’s NO… pic.twitter.com/NSyXOjHsUx

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 7, 2026

Warner made similar comments Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” as he told Martha Raddatz: “We’ve seen this president say he wants to federalize or have Republicans take over elections.

“The idea that the director of national intelligence could come up with a fake piece of intelligence and then use that for an excuse to bring troops into the polls, I would never have believed I’d be saying that in 2026. But that’s what I’m afraid of. That’s what Democrats and candidly, a lot of Republicans are afraid of as well.”

Sen. Mark Warner criticizes director of national intelligence appointee Bill Pulte: “What he has shown is a complete loyalty to do whatever Donald Trump wants, compromising private information about mortgages.” https://t.co/m47z6XPgVL pic.twitter.com/HckRFH6Mrr

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) June 7, 2026

Eric Daughtery of RightLine News said of Warner’s comments: “He’s making crap up because the REAL FRAUD might get exposed!”

He added: “‘Shutting down elections’ the only reason something like that could happen is if MASSIVE cheating took place. What’s he scared of?”

Warner continued on ABC, saying: “Tulsi Gabbard at least had national security experience. She was the former DNI. She fired people that were long-term intelligence professionals, but had some constraints … ”

Raddatz interjected: “Is he trying to gut the agency?”

“I fear that he’d be trying to gut the intelligence community or so intimidate them that they don’t tell the truth,” Warner replied. “If we don’t have intelligence professionals that speak truth to power, America ends up less safe and less secure.”

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