Political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security requested that CISA secretly acquire and hack a voting machine at the beginning of President Trump's second term.
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Deadline: White HouseOct 20, 2026
ProPublica's October 19, 2026 investigation reports that DHS political appointees asked CISA to secretly acquire and hack a voting machine a few months into Trump's second term, citing two former administration officials.
Our two reads of who says this, and how, disagree, so it counts as the post's own claim.
What was said
… Startling new reporting in Pro publica reveals that the very agency that guy Chris Krebs used to lead was asked to do something employees there felt amounted to participating in election interference. From that reporting, quote, "A few months into Donald Trump's second term, political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security made an unusual request of its agency focused on cyber security: secretly acquire a voting machine and hack it. The appointees wanted CISA to procure the machine, examine it, and report back the findings so they could be given to the White House," as according to two former administration officials with knowledge of the request. …
Deadline: White House · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. ProPublica reports that a few months into Trump's second term, DHS political appointees asked CISA to secretly acquire a voting machine, examine it, and report findings to the White House, according to two former administration officials.[3]
Supports. Rawstory and GovExec republish the ProPublica account, stating the appointees asked CISA to acquire and hack a voting machine; these repeat the same reporting rather than independently confirming it.[4][5]
Context. The request was reportedly never carried out: CISA employees repeatedly said it was impossible, partly because the relevant staff had been laid off under DOGE. The claim asserts only the request, so this does not contradict it.[3][4][6]
Context. DHS and CISA did not respond to ProPublica's questions, and no official source in the set confirms or denies the request.[3][4]
Context. The Reuters and AP coverage in the set addresses broader federal election-related actions and CISA's election security plan, not this specific request.[1][2]
Sources
6 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 1 tier 2, 1 tier 3, 2 not rated
- 1How Trump is moving to control U.S. elections, one state at ...reuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 2US election security plan comes late, officials say | AP Newsapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 3Trump Appointees Asked a Federal Cybersecurity Agency to Secretly Acquire a Voting Machine — and Hack Itpropublica.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports, context
- 4Horror as Trump aides’ ‘mind boggling’ secret voting machine hack request revealedrawstory.com · tier 3 · cited for: supports, context
- 5This cybersecurity agency is supposed to protect U.S ...govexec.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6Trump officials reportedly asked staffers to secretly hack a ...theverge.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
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Related claims
- A report claims that political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security requested that cybersecurity agents secretly acquire and hack a voting machine.True
- The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) attempted to acquire a voting machine but was blocked by internal opposition within the Department of Homeland Security.True
- The Trump administration is planning to go raid voting machines.Can’t tell
- CISA employees were unable to fulfill the request to hack a voting machine because the agents capable of doing so had been laid off by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency initiative.True
- The Trump administration has sent the Department of Homeland Security to look for election fraud.True