Polygraph

Podcast · ms.now

Deadline: White House

Nicolle Wallace, MS NOW

Drawing on years of experience as communications chief for President George W. Bush and senior advisor for the McCain-Palin campaign, Nicolle Wallace provides political insight and clarity on where the decision-makers stand on complex issues. Join her for analysis and discussion with the key newsmakers every weekday.

True72% confidence6 sourcesOct 20, 2026CISA 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.ProPublica reports that CISA employees told political appointees the hacking request was impossible, in part because the agents capable of such an operation had just been laid off by DOGE, and that the request was not acted on. The claim drops the qualifier "in part" but otherwise matches the reporting; independent 2025 reports corroborate that DOGE cut CISA red-team staff.True90% confidence8 sourcesOct 20, 2026Chris Krebs helped create CISA during the first Trump administration.Said by DMultiple tier1 and tier2 sources state that Chris Krebs was CISA's first director and that CISA was created under Trump's first administration (signed 2018), with Krebs appointed in 2017 and confirmed in 2018, so he helped create the agency during Trump 1.0. The extraction's 'had a hand in creating' is a faithful paraphrase of the passage, and the claim is not contradicted by any source.True90% confidence7 sourcesOct 20, 2026Tulsi Gabbard enacted a plan in Puerto Rico to research voting machines.Said by DReuters and NBC News, both reporting in February 2026, confirm that Gabbard's Office of the Director of National Intelligence obtained and examined Puerto Rico's voting machines in 2025 to look for security vulnerabilities, which matches the claim. The claim drops the passage's word 'similar' and does not say the plan was the same as the CISA request, but that is a faithful paraphrase of the core action and does not change the verdict.True90% confidence5 sourcesOct 20, 2026The Department of Justice conducted a raid on Fulton County.Said by CMultiple reliable sources report that FBI agents executed a search warrant at Fulton County's election hub on January 28, 2026, seizing 2020 ballots and records, and USA Today states the FBI is part of the Department of Justice and that the affidavit came from DOJ's request. The claim's "Department of Justice" framing is resolved from the post's own reference to the DOJ and is accurate under the sources' description of the FBI as part of DOJ.True85% confidence8 sourcesOct 20, 2026The Trump administration sent a list of voters to California for removal from voter rolls.Said by CMultiple sources report that the Trump administration (DOJ) sent California officials a list of about 20,000 registered voters it alleges are likely noncitizens and demanded they be removed or have ballots set aside, which the state refused; the claim as extracted matches this, and the list was sent October 13, before the October 20 posting. The post's 'list of people they want removed' framing is a fair paraphrase of this record.True60% confidence7 sourcesOct 20, 2026The Trump administration has declassified sensitive material that state officials provided to CISA.ProPublica's reporting, which the White House did not dispute on the release itself, says the administration declassified records that included raw state-shared material given to CISA. Fact-checkers confirm the White House released a trove of documents, some declassified or partially redacted, but none directly confirms that the released material included state-provided CISA data, and the echoing outlets repeat ProPublica rather than independently verify it.True60% confidence9 sourcesOct 20, 2026Some state authorities have stopped sharing information with CISA due to a lack of trust in the Trump administration.ProPublica (Oct 19, 2026) reports that some state election authorities said they no longer trusted the Trump administration enough to share information with CISA, which supports the claim as of 2026-10-20. Several outlets repeat that same ProPublica passage, so the independent support is thinner than the number of articles suggests; the claim's 'have stopped sharing' is a reasonable paraphrase of that reported distrust rather than a separately documented cessation.True93% confidence10 sourcesOct 20, 202677% of independents are not confident that Donald Trump will accept his party's losses.Said by 2BThe claim matches the Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll (conducted Oct. 9-13, 2026, reported Oct. 20), which found 77% of independents not confident Trump would accept Republican midterm losses. The claim faithfully reflects the passage, and the finding was accurate as of the 2026-10-20 posting date.True85% confidence7 sourcesOct 20, 202628% of Americans are very or somewhat confident that Donald Trump will accept his party's losses in the 2026 election.Said by 2BThe ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll (conducted Oct. 9-13, 2026, published Oct. 20) found 28% of Americans very (10%) or somewhat (18%) confident Trump will accept midterm results if Republicans lose, matching the claim as of the claimant's posting date. The claim faithfully reflects the passage, and the poll's figure is consistent across multiple outlets.True70% confidence4 sourcesOct 20, 2026The largest 100 law firms in the country represent more than $100 billion of revenue.Said by 2CThe 2026 Am Law 100 data, as reported by the ABA Journal in September 2026, puts the 100 largest US firms' combined gross revenue for 2025 at $178.95 billion, well above the claimed $100 billion, so the claim held as of 2026-10-20. Only one source states the combined total, so confidence is capped.True95% confidence7 sourcesOct 20, 2026Tina Peters was convicted of election fraud or interference in Colorado.Said by 2BMultiple sources confirm Tina Peters was convicted by a Colorado jury in 2024 on election-related counts, including attempts to influence a public servant and conspiracy, in what BBC and CBS describe as an election interference case. The Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the conviction in April 2026, and the later Polis clemency that led to her release did not erase the conviction, so the claim holds as of the posting date.True92% confidence6 sourcesOct 20, 2026Donald Trump issued an executive order on March 31, 2026, directing the Department of Justice to prioritize the prosecution of election officials and workers who allow ineligible people to vote.Said by 2CThe claim matches the text of Executive Order 14399, signed March 31, 2026, which directs the Attorney General to prioritize investigating and prosecuting State and local election officials who issue Federal ballots to ineligible individuals. The post's claim that part of the order was struck down but a directive survived is not contradicted by the sources, though a June 2026 court ruling blocked the order as a whole, which the summary notes.

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