The Trump administration terminated a contract with a research contractor in Puerto Rico after the contractor failed to find evidence of 2020 election rigging.
Posted by Deadline: White House, Checked
- Sources
- 1 contradict2 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 60%
Deadline: White HouseOct 20, 2026
Multiple reports (ProPublica, CNN, Reuters, GovExec) say the administration stopped renewing or shut down the Puerto Rico contract with Mojave Research after the firm found no evidence supporting 2020 fraud claims. However, an ODNI spokesperson told reporters the work ceased because Mojave had completed its contract, so the causal link is disputed by an official source.
A detail. The sources confirm the gist; the verdict faults a detail such as a date, number or wording.
What was said
… you know, before and after this request, and in fact, we saw, you know, Telsey Gabbard essentially enact a pretty similar plan to this in in Puerto Rico, you know, a few months after CISA declined to do it. You know, we, in in that case, you know, the the research contractor basically didn't find the evidence of of some kind of smoking gun related to 2020 being rigged, and, and you know, as it's been reported, the the Trump administration cut the contract with them after they weren't able to find what they were looking for. So I think it's, you know, I think it's safe to say, you know, that that the Trump administration has a vested interest in trying to get their hands on voting machines and sort of prove to the American public, or at least make the case enough to sow doubt, …
Deadline: White House · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. An ODNI spokesperson told reporters that Mojave's work ceased because it had completed its contract, not because of its findings.[2]
Supports. ProPublica reports Mojave failed to find evidence supporting claims about 2020, after which the federal government became dissatisfied and stopped renewing its contract, according to the CEO.[2]
Supports. CNN reports the administration declined to renew the contract after the firm found no evidence of vote tampering and did not echo officials' fraud claims, based on executives' statements and documents provided to CNN.[3]
Supports. Reuters reports a secret federal probe of the Puerto Rico machines found no trace of hacking, and that Olsen turned on Mojave after the results, with sources saying the administration expanded its investigation elsewhere.[1]
Context. GovExec reports Mojave found serious software vulnerabilities but no evidence votes were changed, and that a follow-on effort was abruptly shut down.[4]
Sources
4 sources: 1 fact-checker, 2 tier 2, 1 not rated
- 1Insight: Trump, aides chase vote-rigging claims even after latest probe finds nothingreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Trump Appointees Asked a Federal Cybersecurity Agency to Secretly Acquire a Voting Machine — and Hack Itpropublica.org · tier 2 · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 3When they didn't find fraud while testing a voting machine ...cnn.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 4The government was ready to expand its voting security work. Then it pulled the pluggovexec.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
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