Alarm spread Monday night after a new report revealed that the Justice Department has been drawing up contingency plans to potentially intervene in next week’s midterm elections.
Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, citing three officials with knowledge of the discussions, reported that DOJ leaders have gamed out “doomsday” scenarios ranging from foreign cyberattacks to chaos at the polls. Officials described the scenarios as improbable but not impossible, according to the report.
“Nobody knows what the president might do if the mid-terms don’t go his way,” a senior intelligence official told Klippenstein.
The administration has hinted at such moves publicly. Attorney General Todd Blanche has refused to rule out blocking a state from certifying results in a “doomsday scenario,” and the department has already asked a court to halt certification in Alaska’s Senate race if the Republican incumbent narrowly loses.
Klippenstein drew a direct line to 2020. A government lawyer who is not privy to the specifics of the discussions told him he expects Trump-aligned lawyers to once again chase and amplify every claim of impropriety after the vote.
The report lands as Democrats brace for efforts to keep their winners from taking office, and a conservative former federal judge has warned that MAGA may dust off its old playbook to block a November loss.
Progressives and activists quickly sounded off. Melanie D’Arrigo, a former Democratic congressional candidate and activist, called the plans “the fascism we warned about.”
Virginia-based activist Aurora Britt took a more sardonic view.
“It’s kinda incredible [that] said plans are not ready by now,” Britt wrote. “You’ve had multiple years to plan for this coup.”
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