Trump's million-dollar payment for voter fraud tips has no funding source

Donald Trump said Monday that anyone reporting voter fraud in past elections or the 2026 midterms will receive $1 million, contingent on the arrest and conviction of the people responsible. The offer came in a post on Truth Social and was repeated later to reporters before he boarded Air Force One for a campaign rally in Mississippi. "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!" Trump wrote. He did not disclose a funding source for the payouts. The White House has not responded to a request for comment.

The announcement lands two weeks before the November midterms and follows Trump's repeated claims of widespread voter fraud, which remain unproven. Earlier this month, Democratic state attorneys general expanded coordination to counter what they described as potential federal interference in the coming elections. California Attorney General Rob Bonta accused the administration of politicizing and weaponizing the law through its efforts to restrict alleged noncitizen voting.

The reward structure is not new. In 2020, Texas Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick offered $25,000 for election-fraud tips, saying at the time that he supported Trump's efforts to identify voter fraud and to ensure that every legal vote is counted and every illegal vote is disqualified. The first payout under that program went to Eric Frank, a Democratic poll worker in Pennsylvania, whose tip led to the conviction of a 72-year-old Republican for voting twice, once in his own name and once in his son's, the Washington Post reported in 2021.

Trump's figure of $1 million per conviction is 40 times Patrick's offer. He gave no deadline for accepting reports and no criteria beyond an arrest and conviction.