In August 2025, Donald Trump revealed a world leader who suggested the idea of mail-in ballot restrictions to him.
Posted by Bulwark Takes, Checked
- Sources
- 1 contradict4 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 85%
Bulwark TakesSep 15, 2026
Reuters and other tier1 outlets confirm that in August 2025 Trump told Hannity that Vladimir Putin had said mail-in voting cannot produce a fair election, and Trump then moved to end mail-in ballots.
What was said
… These reforms are urgently needed to stop the vulnerabilities that I've mentioned. I guess it's worth noting that he also voted by mail. Uh, let's also talk, let's also play the clip about where the surprising source of some of this, this is from August 2025, where Trump reveals the world leader, that planted the idea in his head that this is something he's gotta get rid of. Vladimir Putin said something, one of the most interesting things. He said, uh, your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting. He said mail-in voting every election. …
Bulwark Takes · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Reuters reported on Aug. 15-16, 2025 that Trump said Putin remarked that a fair election cannot be conducted with mail-in voting, following their Alaska meeting.[1]
Supports. FactCheck.org and PolitiFact reported that Trump, after meeting Putin, said Putin had said the 2020 election was rigged because of mail-in voting, and then launched a push to eliminate mail-in ballots in August 2025.[2][3][4]
Contradicts. Fact-checkers say Trump's claim that Putin called the 2020 election rigged is unsupported, since Trump lost that election; this disputes the content of Putin's remark, not that Trump attributed the idea to Putin.[4][5]
Context. The claim's phrase 'planted the idea' is interpretive; sources show Trump credited Putin with the view and then adopted it, which fits the claim's core.[1][6]
Sources
6 sources: 3 fact-checkers, 2 not rated, 1 tier 1
- 1Trump says Putin agrees with him US should not have mail-in votingreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 2FactChecking Trump's Claims About Mail-In Ballots, Voting Machines and States' Role - FactCheck.orgfactcheck.org · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3Trump said U.S. is the only mail-in voting country. Wrong.politifact.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 4PolitiFact | Trump said the US is the ‘only country’ that ...api.politifact.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 5How Trump falsely claims US is the 'only country' that uses mail-in ...aljazeera.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 6Can Trump really ban mail-in voting?bbc.com · tier 1 · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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