Trump’s Department of Homeland Security Secretly Ordered Cybersecurity Operatives to Acquire a Voting Machine and Hack It

Donald Trump's second term in the White House has been marred by corruption allegations, including family members profiting from tech stocks and the infamous TrumpCoin scandal. Now, a bombshell investigation by ProPublica has revealed a far-reaching conspiracy involving the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and cybersecurity operatives.

According to the investigation, officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a component of DHS, were directed to acquire a voting machine and assess its vulnerabilities. Former government officials, speaking anonymously to avoid retaliation, told ProPublica that CISA insiders were furious at the order, speculating that the machine could be used to manipulate election results.

The initiative was complicated by Elon Musk's DOGE squad laying off CISA agents who would have been capable of hacking the machine. As a result, the agents who received the order had to repeatedly inform White House officials that the request was impossible. CISA has been involved in security discussions with state governments and voting machine vendors regarding potential vulnerabilities for years.

However, during a critical election season, key players involved in overseeing federal election equipment claim they were left high and dry for over a year, with no explanation for their absence. Former CISA cybersecurity and election consultant Ryan Macias told ProPublica that CISA was "nonexistent" during the US midterm elections between 2025 and September 2026, contradicting the agency's once-reliable track record.