Near the end of Thursday’s edition of The Lead, host Jake Tapper boosted an election theft conspiracy pushed by The Washington Post, which erroneously claimed President Trump was going to issue an emergency declaration to steal the midterm elections. Tapper even brought on the senior White House reporter to wrote the story, Isaac Arnsdorf to help give the accusations weight. But Republican commentator Shermichael Singleton blew up the accusations with a phone call.
“President Trump could then use that claim [of China election interference] as a basis to declare a national emergency, which then theoretically could open the door for him to exert extraordinary presidential power over the voting process in this year's midterm elections,” Tapper prefaced as he began to rhetorically pull out the red twine.
After being given the floor to explain what his source told him, Arnsdorf disclosed that the proposal DID NOT come from the White House but rather someone who claimed to have spoken to the White House about it (Click “expand”):
So, I want to be really clear. This is not an official White House draft. This is not a document that comes from the White House. This is a proposal that's being shared with the White House. When we know that Trump has said on social media, he wants to do an executive order to mandate no mail ballots and voter ID, even without an act of Congress.
How’s he going to do that? Well, he says he's about to present a new legal theory that's never been tested before. And there's a lawyer who has worked with him in the past knows him since high school, representing Tina Peters, who viewers remember the Colorado election clerk. And this lawyer has this proposal, as you described, that if the administration can present evidence of foreign interference, that could be the basis for the national emergency that would unlock the president to exercise these powers that they acknowledge, ordinarily, he doesn't have -- those powers over election that belong to Congress or the states.
When asked by Tapper about “What kind of powers would this unlock, theoretically,” Arnsdorf admitted, “Well, I mean this isn't like spelled out in a, in a statute or anything.” He went on to explain that the plot would involve every voter reregistering.
While CNN's Jake Tapper and Washington Post's Isaac Arnsdorf push a BlueAnon conspiracy theory that some random dude claims to have pitch an election theft scheme to the White House, Republican commentator @MrShermichael Singleton blows up their spot by noting he called the White… pic.twitter.com/Ol5E6Xd1sA
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) February 27, 2026
Arnsdorf’s article for The Post, titled “Trump, seeking executive power over elections, is urged to declare emergency,” names Peter Ticktin as the “Florida lawyer who is advocating for the draft executive order.”
But Ticktin curiously didn’t disclose who exactly he was supposedly talking to at the White House. “Ticktin said he’s had ‘certain coordination’ with White House officials but declined to specify, citing safety concerns,” Arnsdorf wrote.
When asked by Tapper to address the conspiracy theory, Singleton said he had his skepticism of the report and called up the White House for clarification. According to Singleton, the White House didn’t have a clue who Ticktin was supposedly talking to in the White House and officials would like to know as well:
I mean, look, there are a lot of people who are going to make claims of having good, strong, robust relationships with the White House and with the President himself, we've seen these types of reportings in the past.
And good job, by Isaac, by the way, when I first read this story, I couldn't quite believe it. So I reached out to people to just ask like, ‘hey, is this legitimate?’ And one response I got was, ‘well, if you find a person who this guy is allegedly talking to, let us know, too.’
“Many people propose a lot of crazy ideas. It does not mean the White House is going to enact on it. And by the way the Constitution authority isn't there,” Singleton added.
A short time later, Arnsdorf admitted Singleton had a point. “Well, I mean, Shermichael is absolutely right. There are definitely people in the White House who do not want to see this happen. Do not think it will work,” he said, before arguing that Trump had taken bad legal advice in the past.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Lead
February 26, 2026
6:48:02 p.m. Eastern(…)
JAKE TAPPER: Our politics lead now, an alarming new report from The Washington Post reveals a 17-page draft executive order circulating in which the White House claims China interfered in the 2020 election.
Now, we all know the president has his theories and grievances, but this is significant to today because President Trump could then use that claim as a basis to declare a national emergency, which then theoretically could open the door for him to exert extraordinary presidential power over the voting process in this year's midterm elections.
Washington Post senior White House reporter Isaac Arnsdorf joins the panel. He broke the story.
So, Isaac, tell us what your sources have told you.
ISAAC ARNSDORF: So, I want to be really clear. This is not an official White House draft. This is not a document that comes from the White House. This is a proposal that's being shared with the White House. When we know that Trump has said on social media, he wants to do an executive order to mandate no mail ballots and voter ID, even without an act of Congress.
How’s he going to do that? Well, he says he's about to present a new legal theory that's never been tested before. And there's a lawyer who has worked with him in the past knows him since high school, representing Tina Peters, who viewers remember the Colorado election clerk. And this lawyer has this proposal, as you described, that if the administration can present evidence of foreign interference, that could be the basis for the national emergency that would unlock the president to exercise these powers that they acknowledge, ordinarily, he doesn't have -- those powers over election that belong to Congress or the states.
TAPPER: Would he have to present this evidence? Because we know that the President's definition of evidence is quite different than that, at least in 2020 as defined by courts and election boards and governors, even Republicans. Would he have to present this evidence to some sort of reputable arbiter?
ARNSDORF: Well, presumably, I've heard from a number of organizations today since I published this article, that they would challenge this in court, and then you would see, like with previous executive orders, you know, looking at some of the rationale that they've used for expedited deportation.
The judge would be in the position of reviewing is the argument they're making about an invasion force from Venezuela describing Tren de Aragua, do we buy that or not? Is that a valid -- but it would go -- it would go to litigation.
TAPPER: What kind of powers would this unlock, theoretically, if he does this declaration?
ARNSDORF: Well, I mean this isn't like spelled out in a, in a statute or anything, but according to an early version of the draft that I saw, it would just order that everyone's got to reregister.
TAPPER: Reregister?
ARNSDORF: Everyone's got to reregister. You got to start from -- start over with voter registration.
TAPPER: Two hundred million people or whatever.
ARNSDORF: You've got to show proof of proof of citizenship. And you can only vote with hand-marked paper ballots, and you can only use an absentee ballot in very limited circumstances.
TAPPER: Shermichael, your response?
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON: I mean, look, there are a lot of people who are going to make claims of having good, strong, robust relationships with the White House and with the President himself, we've seen these types of reportings in the past.
And good job, by Isaac, by the way, when I first read this story, I couldn't quite believe it. So I reached out to people to just ask like, ‘hey, is this legitimate?’ And one response I got was, ‘well, if you find a person who this guy is allegedly talking to, let us know, too.’
The White House is principally focused on maintaining the House this November. They're principally focused on the economy, bringing jobs back to the American people, not these kooky, mongy, crazy stories by some random attorney who is trying to assert something. And it should be known -- again, this is not officially from the White House.
TAPPER: Right.
SINGLETON: Many people propose a lot of crazy ideas. It does not mean the White House is going to enact on it. And by the way the Constitution authority isn't there. And Republicans, I believe, wouldn't support this because they want to talk about the kitchen table issues that most Americans care about.
(…)
6:53:40 p.m. Eastern
TAPPER: And what other kind of feedback did you get from your story?
ARNSDORF: Well, I mean, Shermichael is absolutely right. There are definitely people in the White House who do not want to see this happen. Do not think it will work. But we've seen a situation before where Donald Trump has door number one, a lawyer who says that's not going to work, you can't do this. And door number two, a different lawyer who says here's how you can make it work. And which door does he choose?
TAPPER: Yeah, we have seen that movie before. Thank you so much. Great reporting.
