President Donald Trump on Monday promised $1 million to anyone who reports voter fraud that results in an arrest and conviction, and he extended the offer to past elections as well as to the midterm contests that will be decided on Nov. 3.
"Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud!" the president wrote on Truth Social.
He repeated the pledge when he spoke with reporters before boarding Air Force One for a campaign rally in Mississippi, calling the payment "a million-dollar bonus or reward or whatever you want to call it" for anyone whose report leads to the arrest and conviction of somebody.
The president offered no details on how the program would work. He did not say how the money would be paid, which agency would be involved or which earlier elections would count, The Epoch Times reported, and he named no way for people to submit their reports, according to the New York Post.
The sum is more than 30 times the top award in a separate effort announced last week, under which the Justice Department offers up to $30,000 for tips about fraud. The FBI already offers cash rewards for information that helps solve crimes or find fugitives.
The offer came on the same day the Justice Department announced charges against 48 people in California, Nevada, Pennsylvania, New York and Florida, accusing them of illegal voting, fraudulent voter registration and other election crimes in cases where noncitizens, among them green card holders, cast ballots in federal elections. Voter fraud charges are relatively rare, the Post noted, though the department has now made public dozens of cases against noncitizens accused of registering or voting illegally, including 16 announced on Oct. 12.
The administration has grown more assertive in overseeing elections, Reuters reported, pressing states for voter registration data and arguing that stricter safeguards are needed to sustain public confidence in the results. Critics, among them political experts and Democratic and some Republican election officials, regard those steps as federal overreach, and some officials told the news agency they are preparing for possible federal interference in the midterms. Reuters also noted that Trump has made false claims about past elections and has not acknowledged his defeat in 2020.
Republicans hold narrow majorities in both the House and the Senate, and the Nov. 3 vote will settle which party controls Congress. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have held multiple rallies for Republican congressional candidates, with more events planned before Election Day.