Top Intel Democrat Sees 'Precisely Zero' Foreign Threat to Vote Counts. His Party's War Game Starred Elon Musk

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee says his classified briefings show "precisely zero evidence" that any foreign country can tamper with how Americans vote. Then he named the threat Democrats did game out for Election Day: Elon Musk.

Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut made both points on one broadcast, an hourlong MeidasTouch "election podcast" with Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. MeidasTouch posted the Musk segment on Friday evening.

"Jamie and I, again, with Joe Morelle and others and lawyers, and as he said, nonprofits, we've war-gamed a lot of these scenarios," Himes said. "And one of these scenarios, and I'm looking at you here, Elon Musk, because, you know, he in particular has been a massive financial player in this election." Morelle, of New York, is the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, which oversees federal elections.

The scenario

Himes walked through it step by step. Musk, who he noted "controls a major social media platform, X," could "alter those algorithms or ... tell a story that is false, you know, to say that reports in Michigan are that massive numbers of the undocumented are voting."

Then, Himes said, "a whole bunch of guys with guns in Michigan" see the posts. "What's to stop them from jumping into trucks armed and showing up at polling places?" Local police get overwhelmed. "What do you think the president's going to do? Well, he's going to send in federal law enforcement."

He added a hedge, "I don't mean to, you know, say he's the one who's going to do this, but he certainly has the power," and then a warning to Musk and the other tech bosses: "We have been in contact with these many leaders who do not have the benefit of the doubt these days to say, you know, we're watching very closely. More importantly, there are lawyers who are watching very closely."

Picture a fire drill where the planners write one neighbor's name on the arsonist card, then tell him they're watching his house. Musk has not been accused of anything. By Himes's own telling, he is in the script anyway.

'Precisely zero'

Minutes earlier on the same show, Himes said he had "classified briefings as recently as 72 hours ago." The intelligence community, he said, "is seeing precisely zero evidence that any of, you know, Russia or China or Iran or North Korea have any intent or ability to actually mess around with the mechanics of our election." He added that 49 of the 50 states, all but Louisiana, keep a paper record of every vote.

So the foreign hack is off the table by his own account. The tech owners are not. Himes said they "lost the benefit of the doubt on day one of the second Trump administration when they all were paraded like so many hunting trophies by the president at his inauguration."

The 'false' story federal prosecutors keep indicting

The false rumor Himes picked for his scenario was noncitizens voting. On the same broadcast, Raskin called noncitizen voting "really a non-issue. It's just infinitesimally small where it does occur."

The day before the show aired, the Justice Department announced 18 more indictments of noncitizens for illegally voting in North Carolina, bringing the state's total this year to 30. One defendant, Selvin Porfidio Gonzalez Escobar, 43, is "an illegal alien from Guatemala" in Robeson County who allegedly registered in 2020 and voted in the 2020 and 2024 general elections. Another, Gregory Eugene Wade, a green-card holder from Bermuda, allegedly voted in 12 general elections going back to 2000.

Three days before that, the department announced charges involving 48 aliens in Pennsylvania, California, Florida, New York and Nevada. Nobody has shown "massive numbers." But these cases are real, and the people bringing them are U.S. attorneys and federal grand juries, not anonymous posters on X.

Margins matter, too. "In our most recent elections in North Carolina, the 2025 municipal elections, there were 14 races decided by 2 votes; 15 races decided by 1 vote; and 7 races that were tied," said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson of the state's Western District. "Every vote matters."

What comes next

Election Day is Tuesday. Himes closed the show by saying Democrats have "been wargaming and preparing," with lawyers ready "the moment there's misbehavior" to be "in court filing injunctions and temporary restraining orders, all that stuff."

Their plan has the lawyers, the nonprofits and a villain with a name. What it doesn't have, by Himes's own account, is any evidence that a foreign power can touch the count.