The interview opened with light banter between the two men, with Trump acknowledging Bongino’s departure from federal law enforcement and praising the success of his media career.

“I was very unhappy when you left the FBI,” Trump told Bongino early in the conversation. “But I was very happy that your show was so, so good. So I’m OK with this — net neutral. I call it a net neutral.”

As the conversation turned to voting, Trump expressed frustration with Republicans, saying they have not been aggressive enough in pushing back against what he described as lax election rules and improper voting practices.

“Amazing that the Republicans aren’t tougher on it,” Trump said. “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least … five places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked.”

Donald Trump went on Dan Bongino’s show and said Republicans should nationalize elections across the country so they can take it over. We need to take him very seriously when he says things like this. pic.twitter.com/RndIq47CCZ

— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) February 2, 2026

Trump did not identify which states or jurisdictions he believes should be targeted, nor did he outline any specific legal or legislative pathway to accomplish such a shift.

In a statement to The Washington Examiner, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Trump “cares deeply about the safety and security of our election,” pointing to his support for Congress to pass the SAVE Act and other legislation reforms that would impose requirements including no-excuse mail-in voting, photo ID rules, and ballot harvesting practices.

The president’s concerns come as more than a dozen states currently do not require photo ID for voting, and many others continue to not maintain up-to-date voter rolls or are unwilling to share election records. As it stands, around 26 states have cooperated with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to ensure only legal citizens are voting in their respective elections.

Any serious gambit to federalize elections would likely face an uphill battle. The Constitution vests the authority to set the “time, place, and manner” of elections rests primarily with the states, with Congress — not the president — having limited power to revise those rules. Legal experts have long noted that any attempt by the executive branch to unilaterally federalize election administration would face immediate constitutional challenges.

Trump also repeated his claim that he won the 2020 presidential election. After losing that race to former President Joe Biden, Trump and his allies pursued numerous legal challenges alleging widespread fraud and irregularities, but none succeeded.

The comments come as the Justice Department has sued more than 20 states for access to voter data, part of a broader push that has heightened tensions between federal officials and state election authorities. That effort drew renewed attention last week after an FBI search at a Georgia county election office, a move that alarmed Democrats and local officials who warned it could signal a deeper federal-state clash over election oversight. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard participated in the Fulton County raid.

Trump has repeatedly warned that Democrats could seek to impeach him again if they regain control of the House, noting that the president’s party has historically lost seats during midterm elections. Democrats reclaimed the House in 2018 during Trump’s first term, a loss that helped fuel multiple investigations and impeachment proceedings against him.

FBI NAMES LONGTIME AGENT AS DAN BONGINO’S REPLACEMENT FOR DEPUTY DIRECTOR

The election debate is also intersecting with a broader fight on Capitol Hill over a partial government shutdown affecting only the Pentagon, State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security. A group of House conservatives has pushed to include a proof-of-citizenship requirement for registering to vote in federal elections as part of a must-pass funding bill. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said Democrats would not accept the provision, warning that it could prolong a shutdown if Republicans insist on it.

Bongino’s return to broadcasting added another layer of attention to the interview. The show streamed on Rumble and drew nearly 200,000 live viewers, according to platform metrics. The broadcast experienced brief technical problems, including audio problems and intermittent feed lag, before stabilizing.