Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat from Connecticut and a member of the House Intelligence Committee, says the US intelligence community has told him no foreign adversary has interfered with US infrastructure or vote counting ahead of the midterms. He also warned that President Donald Trump will likely try to deny election legitimacy if he loses, pointing to past claims about illegal aliens voting in key states and foreign interference with voting machines.
Himes received a classified briefing on foreign threats and released a statement saying the intelligence community assessed no adversary had interfered or attempted to interfere with infrastructure or vote counting. He appeared on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sept. 27, 37 days before the midterm races.
Himes on Trump’s Loss Scenario
Himes painted a grim picture of how Trump might respond to defeat. He said the president is careening toward a very substantial loss in the election and will deny its legitimacy.
He noted that Trump denies election legitimacy even when an election doesn’t go against him, citing the 2016 claim of winning the popular vote. He also warned that Trump will likely claim illegal aliens voted in Michigan and Florida to deny election legitimacy.
Trump’s denial of election legitimacy has a pattern:
- The 2016 claim of winning the popular vote
- Past allegations about illegal aliens voting in key states
- The careening toward a very substantial loss in the election
Iran’s Control Over Oil Prices
Himes also addressed Iran, whose president appeared at the top of the program to dangle a chance at diplomacy. Himes read the transcript of the interview with the president of Iran, which included nuggets such as not inviting the US president to Iran and not accepting the US president’s threat to annihilate Iran.
Himes said the president’s threat to annihilate Iran is nonsensical but acknowledged that the US sank Iran’s navy and destroyed many of its planes. He said the Iranians have sustained the worst the US and Israel can throw at them for six months.
He argued that the Iranians now control what happens on Election Day by influencing oil prices through actions like missile attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. Oil could rise to $120 a barrel and diesel to $8 a gallon if the Iranians act, costing Mike Lawler and Ashley Hinson their elections, according to Himes.
“So do you think they’re giving up that position before the election? Of course they’re not.”
Why Iran Won’t Back Down
Himes said the Iranians will not give up their position before the election because they control oil and fertilizer flows through the Strait of Hormuz. He noted that the president had already agreed to much of what Iran wanted in a June MOU that failed.
The White House said after the meeting that the countries would set up a bilateral communications channel.
The Bottom Line on Election Security
Himes’s warning is stark. He believes Trump will lose, and he believes Trump will blame everyone else. That includes foreign governments, illegal immigrants, and the intelligence community itself.
His statement that no adversary has interfered with infrastructure or vote counting is notable. It comes from a committee member who has access to classified briefings.
But Himes’s own caution about the administration’s willingness to fire dissenters undercuts his comfort with the real-time intelligence assurance he says he has received. The president’s history of denying election legitimacy — even when an election doesn’t go against him — is the backdrop to everything he said.
The oil angle adds a layer of geopolitical pressure. If Iran raises prices, it could affect not just the economy but specific races. Lawler and Hinson face a direct threat to their campaigns if the Strait of Hormuz attacks push prices high enough.
Himes’s reading of the transcript of the interview with the Iranian president — noting the refusal to invite the US president to Iran and the rejection of the threat to annihilate Iran — shows a careful parsing of diplomatic language.
The June MOU that failed is the context for the current standoff. Trump agreed to much of what Iran wanted, and now the question is whether the bilateral communications channel will actually produce results.
Himes’s role as a Democrat from Connecticut puts him in the center of this story. His committee position gives him access to classified information that few others have.
The midterms are 37 days away. Himes’s assessment is grim, but it is also public. He has laid out the scenario, and now the country waits to see whether it plays out.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs Himes’s statement that no foreign adversary has interfered with US infrastructure or vote counting and is against treating politics as a horse race between two machines that both gather power. The paper’s focus stays at home, and it wants trade, diplomacy and compromise kept open rather than closed off by fear.
Himes’s warning that Trump will likely deny election legitimacy if he loses tracks a familiar pattern: the president denies election legitimacy even when an election doesn’t go against him, as with the 2016 claim of winning the popular vote. That denial of legitimacy is the backdrop to everything Himes said, and the paper takes it seriously without joining the panic.
The paper wants a level playing field for candidates, not a race between two machines that gather power. It wants voters to judge candidates issue by issue against its north star of individual freedom, small business and avoiding concentrations of power, and to see through the noise of foreign threats and oil prices.
See the video the story is built around at CBS News.
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