Update (7/13/26): This article has been updated with an additional example.

Discussing the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on a conservative podcast, prominent election denier David Clements claimed on July 8 that “in theory, right now,” President Donald Trump “can fire the entire board as it's comprised, and it's completely constitutional."

On the evening of July 9, Trump announced that he had done just that. Democrats have criticized the move, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it a “brazen attempt to seize control of our elections” by Trump ahead of the midterms.

In a conversation on The David Rutherford Show, Clements claimed the commission “can, right now, say the elections are vulnerable. The machines are crap. We're decertifying them,” adding, “For all intents and purposes, if the EAC were to decertify the machines, it's game over.”

Clements excitedly explained that the Supreme Court’s recent Trump v. Slaughter ruling — which gives the president “sweeping new authority over approximately two dozen multi-member agencies that Congress intended to be independent” — is “an amazing opportunity for Trump to start firing people right out the gate” at the EAC and replace them with commissioners who would “decertify the machines.” He then called for Trump to force recess appointments so “all of a sudden, you could have like a Shawn Smith on the EAC.” As the Brennan Center notes, Smith is an election denier.

Clements also briefly mentioned acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte, claiming he “has been given a mandate to downsize and fire everyone, declassify everything, which will play in nicely into the election discussion. In fact, Tulsi [Gabbard] was promising to have a major bombshell drop on the election machines.” Pulte’s new role as DNI has been celebrated in right-wing media as part of a larger plan by election deniers to subvert the midterm elections.

Other election denial spaces in right-wing media have also promoted claims connecting the Election Assistance Commission and voting machines.

• In a July 13 appearance on Steve Bannon's War Room, former Colorado election official Tina Peters celebrated Trump firing the EAC commissioners, saying, “Thank God” and claiming, “Those were people who shouldn’t even have been in there.” Peters later told Bannon that Trump should “immediately” replace the EAC “this week” as part of an effort to get voting machines removed from the election process, adding, “I know everybody that's anybody in this technical aspect, and there's some really good people that know how to look at this.”

• Gateway Pundit contributor Joe Hoft published a July 10 article titled “Here’s an Inventory of Many Reasons We Identified Why the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) Is Broken.” Hoft claimed Democrats “are the super minority with horrible, destructive policies, and the EAC provides cover for bogus elections, and praised Trump's move to fire EAC commissioners as “another step in the right direction.” The piece featured links to Gateway Pundit articles over the years attacking the EAC, including a January 2021 article “How Can the Government Agency Certifying Elections (the EAC) Maintain Its Independence When Its CIO Previously Worked for 10 Years for Dominion Voting Systems?"

• During a July 7 interview on LindellTV, Lindell Management COO Patrick Colbeck claimed “I've been in communication with some of the people in the EAC. I just think it's a bad mission. Right now, their oversight of electronic voting systems is woefully inept to oversee the integrity of what has been designated critical infrastructure for the United States.” Colbeck said Trump should fill openings at the EAC “with people that we can trust.” (LindellTV and Lindell Management are businesses of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.)

• Last December on The Alex Jones Show, election denier and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne criticized the EAC for recertifying SmartMatic election equipment, saying it was “as if the EAC certified the Gambino family.” Byrne also claimed that SmartMatic is “going to be indicted for election rigging,” which has not happened.