If Democrats win, Himes says Trump won’t ‘accept’ election results

Congressman Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, warned Wednesday of efforts to undermine faith in U.S. elections by foreign powers and one domestic one: President Donald J. Trump.

“We don’t know what the results will be. But if Polymarket is to be believed, it’s not going to be a good Election Day for the president,” Himes said, referring to the prediction markets. “And the president has never accepted the results of an election that he didn’t like.”

Himes pointed to efforts by Trump to sow doubt about the integrity of the midterm elections, beginning with a speech in July claiming evidence of foreign interference.

“Why is he doing these things? Maybe he’s just being Trump, but one assumes that he’s doing these things because he wants to lay the foundation to make the case that an election in which he gets his clock cleaned is not a fair election,” Himes said.

On social media Sunday, Trump contrasted results in Brazil’s centrally-run presidential election with counting in U.S. cities that can stretch past midnight on election days. He ignored that U.S. elections are run by local officials, with paper ballots used in every state but Louisiana.

“In Detroit, Philadelphia, California, and numerous other U.S. Cities and States, the results, with much smaller numbers, will often take weeks to Rig, I mean, calculate,” Trump wrote in his post. “Voting in America is CORRUPT!!!”

The president’s press office had no immediate comment on Himes’ briefing, but the White House has a standing reply on its elections integrity page: “Ensuring the integrity of our elections is fundamental to preserving trust in American democracy.”

The Himes’ briefing was scheduled days ago, but it largely reflected the same sentiments expressed by Republican political operatives in a Newsweek story posted Monday.

“If Republicans lose both Houses of Congress, expect Donald Trump to make several harsh statements,” Matt Klink, a GOP political consultant, told Newsweek. “He’s already begun writing the excuse before a single ballot is cast.”

Himes, who represents the 4th Congressional District, briefed reporters at his district office in Stamford. As the ranking Democrat, Himes is in line to become chair of the House Intelligence Committee if Democrats regain the majority.

Foreign powers have a long history of trying to influence U.S. elections, but there is no credible evidence they have tried to interfere through efforts to change vote counts or disrupt the casting of ballots, Himes said.

“In my world, we draw a distinction between interference, which is actually trying to get in to mess with the results or the mechanics of the election, and influence, which foreign powers do and have done,” Himes said.

Himes said a classified report by the director of national intelligence confirms the continued efforts to influence, not interfere. He said he could not offer details, given it was classified.

“But that report indicated that it’s kind of same old, same old. Meaning the Russians are sort of thinking about how they could influence — not interfere — but influence the elections there,” Himes said. “It won’t surprise you to know they’re very focused on maybe individual politicians who are very pro-Ukraine.”

In a prime time speech in July, Trump said cheating and interference in elections should be virtually impossible. 

“Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard,” Trump said. “Tonight, I’m announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.”

One of the declassified reports reflected China’s “illicit” acquisition of 220 million voter files, material that is generally available in the U.S. There was no suggestion of China trying to delete or otherwise taint voting rolls.

Himes and Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., his Democratic counterpart on the Select Committee on Intelligence in the Senate, wrote last week to Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, pressing him to meet statutory duties to keep Congress and the public abreast of election threats.

“This process should include the declassification and public issuance of the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) about foreign threats to the 2024 presidential election. The lack of a public ICA contravenes the law and undercuts needed transparency about IC efforts to keep our elections secure from outside interference,” Himes and Warner wrote.

Without saying so explicitly, they suggested that includes any assessment that might contradict the president.

“A statement noting the absence of indications of significant foreign interference efforts is just as important as a statement exposing any such activities,” Himes and Warner wrote. “Regardless, the American people should receive as much information as we can responsibly provide prior to the election.”

Famously, Trump fired Christopher Krebs, the Department of Homeland Security official who had pronounced the 2020 election as secure, immediately after Trump’s contested loss to Joe Biden. Himes suggested it was a prelude to Trump’s efforts to deny the election results, climaxing in the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 that briefly delayed certification of Biden’s victory.

More recently, the Trump administration laid off nearly one-third of the staff at Krebs’ former agency, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA.

Himes said he hears from Democrats concerned that Trump somehow will work to block Democrats from taking their seats in Congress. Himes said he fears potential disruptions at the polls, but not a repeat of Jan. 6.

“What’s radically different now is that the president no longer has any meaningful public sentiment on his side, right? His numbers are in the toilet. That was not true on January 6, 2021,” Himes said. 

“A president who is despised by two-thirds of the American population is a much less scary force than one who has the support of 60% of the population,” Himes said. “So public sentiment really matters, and it is not on his side.”