U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) speaks with reporters after the House of Representatives passed its version of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 22, 2026. REUTERS/Eric Lee
A top Democrat in the House of Representatives sounded the alarm on Tuesday after some "really troubling" signs of President Donald Trump's midterm ploy emerged.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) joined CNN's Kasie Hunt on "The Arena," where he was asked about upcoming threats to the midterm elections. He mentioned the possible confirmation of Jay Clayton as Trump's new Director of National Intelligence as one threat, considering that Clayton wouldn't confirm that Joe Biden won the 2020 election during his Senate hearings. Trump has also directed his national intelligence agencies to be more involved in the midterms, which raised concerns about his intent to meddle in the elections.
Raskin also noted that he has not seen evidence of Republicans campaigning in rural areas he's visited, which leads him to believe the party is focused on undermining the election rather than winning it. He shared a little bit about what it has been like to campaign in upstate New York with some of his fellow Democrats.
"We see noevidence of Republican activityanywhere," Raskin said. "I don't even see MAGAhats anymore, which makes meafraid that they're justfocused on trying to underminethe election or take theelection through some kind ofstrategic mischief. We're not seeing Republican campaigning, and the bottom seems to have fallen out of their public support."
Raskin also noted that Clayton would be taking over the DNI slot at a time when the intelligence agency is "a shell of itself." He noted that acting director Tulsi Gabbard "fired hundreds" of people during her tenure, and the new acting chief, Bill Pulte, conducted four rounds of layoffs that impacted a still-to-be-determined number of intelligence professionals.
"What's reallytroubling is they're cleaningout that office as they go," Raskin said.
"He'snot really interested in thekind of national intelligencethat we got, for example, about Vladimir Putin'sinvolvement and interjection ofhimself in our 2016 campaign," Raskin added. "And that's where Trump rejected the findings of 17 different U.S. intelligence agencies and said he believed Vladimir Putin because Putin told him he didn't do it."