By Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has not discussed "formal plans" to deploy U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to polling sites at November's midterm elections, the White House said on Thursday, while declining to rule out their presence near voting locations.
Trump said on Monday that Republicans should "nationalize" and "take over" voting in at least 15 unspecified locations, repeating his false claims that U.S. elections are plagued by widespread fraud.
His remarks were echoed by Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser and influential right-wing commentator, who repeated false claims that people living in the U.S. illegally vote in large numbers and said on his War Room podcast on Tuesday, "You're damn right we're gonna have ICE surround the polls come November."
Asked about Bannon's comments, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "I can't guarantee that an ICE agent won't be around a polling location in November … but what I can tell you is I haven't heard the president discuss any formal plans to put ICE outside of polling locations."
Federal law prohibits the president from deploying military troops at any location holding a general or special election, and several states criminalize carrying firearms at or near polling places. Immigration enforcement, in particular, has caused both U.S. citizens and legal residents to stay home out of fear of detention or racial profiling.
Democrats have raised concerns in recent months that Trump could deploy troops at polling locations to intimidate voters and interfere with the November elections that will determine control of Congress.
Some Republican lawmakers have been reluctant to back Trump’s call to nationalize elections. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is "not in favor of federalizing elections," while House Speaker Mike Johnson noted that "it's always been the responsibility of the states to administer elections."
Trump's push to expand federal control over elections comes as his administration has stepped up pressure on many Democratic-led states to turn over voter data, with the Justice Department suing nearly two dozen states over their voter rolls.
Last week, the FBI searched an election office in Georgia's Fulton County for records related to the 2020 election, as Trump continues to press false claims of fraud in his defeat.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Alistair Bell)
