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Confirmation, details:
The invitation, which was first reported by Crooked Media and confirmed to NBC News by an election official who received it, is scheduled for Feb. 25. It will include the FBI, the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Election Assistance Commission.
The invitation, which was sent this week, according to the election official, was signed by Kellie M. Hardiman, who identified herself as an "FBI Election Executive." A LinkedIn page for Hardiman says she was appointed seven months ago.
The invitation comes amid growing tensions between state and federal officials over elections as President Donald Trump calls to "nationalize the voting."
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Last month, election officials from around the country conferred with each other in D C., a regular annual event. Report:
Election officials from across the country pushed back on Thursday against the Trump administration’s increasingly combative tactics, following an FBI raid in Fulton County, Georgia, and a growing number of Justice Department demands for voter rolls.
When election officials convene in Washington, D.C., every winter, as they did Thursday, it typically results in congenial and bipartisan discussions with experts and federal officials on the voting process.
Meanwhile as you probably know:
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Steve Bannon says the federal government is planning to send ICE officers to patrol polling stations during the midterms.
"We're going to have ICE surround the polls come November."
"We're not going to sit here and allow you to steal the country again." www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1.bsky.social) 2026-02-04T20:00:34.952Z
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And, DOJ has seized ballots in Fulton County, Ga., from six years ago, with DNI director Tulsi Gabbard in attendance and a direct phone call during which Trump spoke to FBI agents during the raid.
This is also where where on election night 2020, Trump phoned begging for officials to somehow find him 11,000 more votes, and where poll workers were later doxxed and persecuted by Trump supporters--all facts amply aired before the public during the J6 impeachment hearings, after which the Republican-dominated Senate refused to convict. Trump barely escaped a criminal trial for this election interference.
Fulton County has sued for return of the ballots.
Despite multiple Trump-supporting efforts to find credible evidence of vote manipulation in 2020, none has emerged.
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Amateur hour, indeed. This DNI and this administration are dangerous.
“This is well beyond what ODNI has the authority or expertise to do,” a former senior intelligence official who has worked on election security told CNN. “This is amateur hour.”
www.thedailybeast.com/tulsi-gabbar...
— The Steady State (@thesteadystate.org) 2026-02-06T13:11:38.494Z
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In addition, Trump has tried to use the ICE occupation of Minneapolis as leverage to extort voter lists there.
And Republicans have been pushing for 20 years by various means to make voter registration more difficult, and purging voter rolls by means of procedures and assumptions that have been problematical.
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🚨🚨Republicans are feverishly pushing the #SaveAct.🚨🚨
Nowhere does the Constitution or Federal law require that a voter must present documents (birth certificate, passport, etc.) to vote or to register.
Light up the EVERYONE'S phones.
www.congress.gov/contact-us
— Rhuta Bhayga (@rhutabhayga.bsky.social) 2026-02-05T19:17:07.934Z
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Republicans are especially worried as Trump's approval ratings slip and a redistricting plan in California, intended to offset Republican gerrymandering elsewhere, has passed a Supreme Court test.
In Virginia, a similar redistricting plan has now been approved by the legislature and goes before the voters in April.
[Me: All these things probably connect. The 8-ball says this phone call with election officials will involve claims of widespread fraud and terrorist threats, demands for access to and purging of voter rolls, extortion, and threats of prosecution if not worse. I hope all participants will be amply prepared, with legal counsel at their elbow, and trust they will record everything.]
