During an interview on MS NOW’s Deadline: White House, Secretary of State and gubernatorial candidate Jocelyn Benson called out Donald Trump and the Department of Justice’s latest attempt to interfere and sow doubt about the integrity of Michigan’s elections.

As Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson oversaw Michigan’s most secure elections and saved citizens time and money by making government work for them. She is the only candidate in this race with a history of standing up to Trump and attacks on citizens’ rights and freedoms.

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Nicolle Wallace: I want to bring in Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Thank you so much for being here. First, tell us what's happening and then tell us what you make of this moment.

Jocelyn Benson: I mean, we've been talking about these types of tactics for the better part of the last six years, right? A president who's unwilling to accept he lost an election in 2020 and determined to try to dismantle democracy, to prevent voters from holding him accountable now, when he's extraordinarily unpopular in the midterm elections, is continuing to use his administration to target local election officials and try to intimidate them and us into complying with whatever wish he has—whether it's turning over the private information of our voters, to turning over our ballots. And it really underscores why it's so important to have local officials and state officials: governors, attorneys general, secretaries of state, with the backbone to know the law and stand with the truth and say, “No, you can't have our voters’ private data. You can't have our ballots, and we know you're only asking for it because you want to be able to overturn or sow seeds of doubt about our elections in the future. Not on our watch.”

Wallace: So what happens now?

Benson: Well, we've said, “No, and we'll see you in court.” Because we know that we have the legal responsibility to protect the security of our elections and the privacy of our voters, and so in this case, we know that if, for example, a local clerk were to voluntarily comply with these intimidation tactics and turn over, let's say, the ballots or ballot envelopes, or even provide access to voting machines here in Michigan or anywhere else, what it would do would is set a precedent for the President's administration or anyone else to try to seize that same information in the future if there is an election outcome that they don't like. And so in an effort to protect against that type of thing in the future, we need to hold the line now, [and] say no. Say, you know, the law protects us here, and our duty is to protect the voters and our state and local election officials whose job it is to ensure our elections are secure and free from interference from the federal level.

Wallace: Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election result led to threats of violence outside of your home, where you were inside with your young family. How do these continued efforts to sow doubt about our elections intersect with threats of political violence in your state?

Benson: Well, there's always a direct line between these attacks, these efforts to continually, without any evidence at all, sow seeds of doubt about the integrity of our elections and then attack and threaten the election officials, the professionals who are charged with simply ensuring that every valid vote is counted and are accurate and our election results are accurate and they are secured. That often unfortunately means, not just against me, but our Detroit City Clerk as well, that threats continue. And yes, it meant me having to shelter in my home while people with guns gathered outside on my front lawn to try to intimidate me into turning over things or overturning elections. But again, like my job as a state election official for the state of Michigan is to stand with the voters always, and I proudly do that. It actually has only emboldened us even more, because we know the truth, the law, and the history of our democracy is on our side. But in this moment, I've never felt more concerned as well about the violence that could evolve in the future, with not just a weaponized Justice Department, but a president that clearly there's no level to which he won't stoop in a time when he's so unpopular [that he would try] to undermine people's faith in our democracy, in our elections. [...] We have additional protections from law enforcement than ever before. So we're ready. It's unfortunate we have to be ready, but we are.

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