{"id":2981,"date":"2026-07-08T19:41:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:41:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2981"},"modified":"2026-07-08T19:41:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T19:41:49","slug":"legal-expert-tears-apart-trumps-extortion-of-blue-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2981","title":{"rendered":"Legal expert tears apart Trump’s ‘extortion’ of blue states"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

New reporting has uncovered a White House policy that withholds antiterrorism funds from states that don\u2019t comply with the Trump administration\u2019s election rules. This effort, declared a former US attorney on Wednesday, amounts to \u201cextortion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Judge orders Trump to cough up cash to assault victim<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThreatening to withhold federal antiterrorism funds from states unless they comply with Trump\u2019s demands regarding elections is nothing but extortion,\u201d posted Barb McQuade<\/u>, who in addition to serving as a US attorney is currently a professor at the University of Michigan Law School and legal analyst for MSNOW. <\/p>\n

As CNN <\/u>revealed in late June, \u201cThe Trump administration is threatening to withhold tens of millions of dollars in federal homeland security funds from states unless they adopt a sweeping set of election changes<\/u>.\u201d These changes include \u201cphasing out certain electronic voting systems and moving to hand-marked paper ballots. They must also run their voter rolls through a controversial Department of Homeland Security citizenship verification database<\/u>.\u201d States that don\u2019t comply will lose DHS grants totaling more than $1 billion annually. These funds \u201care one of Washington\u2019s main vehicles for helping state and local governments prevent terrorism, protect infrastructure and prepare for major disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the New York Times<\/u>, \u201cThe changes could face numerous legal roadblocks, partly because the executive branch does not have constitutional authority to regulate elections, which states administer and Congress broadly oversees.\u201d As McQade notes, \u201cConditions on grants must be tied to the purpose of the grant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Republicans panic-spend as midterms threaten to wreck their \u2018red wall\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

A judge has already barred the Trump administration from forcing states to \u201cuse a centralized national database of citizens built for checking immigration status, known as the SAVE system, to verify voters on their rolls, saying the move violated at least three laws<\/u>. Two provisions in the FEMA<\/u> grants would require the same process.\u201d Under these provisions, states would also be required to submit plans for transitioning to hand-marked paper ballots and provide proof that they are conducting manual post-election audits of 5 percent of ballots. The switch, reports the Times, would cost states hundreds of millions of dollars, and the affected grants tend to go to populous states with large urban areas, many of which have drawn President Donald Trump\u2019s ire by voting against him, like California and New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter denying disaster relief funding and stripping millions from counterterrorism programs, the Trump administration is once again putting New Yorkers\u2019 lives at risk to forward their political agenda,\u201d said New York Governor Kathy Hochul of the new requirements. \u201cUnlike the President, my number one priority is New Yorkers\u2019 safety, and I will fight to ensure our state has every resource available to keep us secure.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Times also notes that these \u201cpolicies align closely with some of the goals pushed by right-wing activists<\/u> that are rooted in false conspiracy theories about election machines and voting by noncitizens during the 2020 election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more US Army rushes to remove anti-Trump insults after hackers hijack military websites<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New reporting has uncovered a White House policy that withholds antiterrorism funds from states that don\u2019t comply with the Trump administration\u2019s election rules. This effort, declared a former US attorney on Wednesday, amounts to \u201cextortion.\u201d\u201cThreatening to withhold federal antiterrorism funds from …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nLegal expert tears apart Trump's 'extortion' of blue states - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=2981\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legal expert tears apart Trump's 'extortion' of blue states - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New reporting has uncovered a White House policy that withholds antiterrorism funds from states that don\u2019t comply with the Trump administration\u2019s election rules. 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