Democracy Docket Reports Trump Told the New York Times He "Should Have" Ordered the National Guard to Seize Ballot Boxes in 2020

Democracy Docket (Jan. 12, 2026) reports that Trump said, in an interview with the New York Times that ran the weekend before, that he “should have” ordered the National Guard to seize ballot boxes during the 2020 election. Asked whether that was a real option, he said the Guard may not be “sophisticated enough”. He did not answer a follow-up on whether he would give such an order in future. The Times article itself sits behind a paywall and was not readable in this pass; the quotes are Democracy Docket’s.