NYT Reports Recording of Heather Honey, Before Her DHS Appointment, Telling Activists on a March 2025 Call a "National Emergency" Over 2020 Could Let the Administration Dictate Rules to States

The New York Times reported (entry date is the publication date; the call is dated only “March”) that Heather Honey, before her August 2025 appointment as DHS deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, suggested on a March 2025 call with right-wing activists that the administration could declare a “national emergency” and justify dictating new rules to state and local governments. The Times reviewed a recording supplied by someone who joined the call. The call’s day is not given, and the participants are not named beyond “right-wing activists” (the Times’ follow-up Q&A calls it “an organizing call”).

The words, as quoted by the Times: “we have some additional powers that don’t exist right now,” “we can take these other steps without Congress and we can mandate that states do things and so on,” and “I don’t know if that’s really feasible and if the people around the president would let him test that theory.” The Times says she tied it to an “actual investigation” of the 2020 election showing “manipulation” of the vote. The Independent, same day, headlined it as a future power to declare a voting emergency; the Times text says the trigger would be findings about 2020 and the rules would apply to state and local governments going forward.

The Times says Honey did not respond to requests for comment and DHS declined to give specifics. The Times’ follow-up Q&A adds that Mitchell has raised the idea publicly, that it has not been attempted before, and that legal experts are skeptical the president has the authority.