Trump offers $1 million reward for voter fraud tips that lead to convictions

What wasn't said: Trump did not say where the money would come from, and he named no way to submit a tip. A White House spokesperson referred NBC News to the post, and the White House gave ABC News no further details. The offer follows a separate fraud whistleblower program the administration announced last week.

Same day in Washington state: the Justice Department asked Washington to set aside any ballots from more than 400 people it suspects registered without U.S. citizenship, saying they cast about 1,500 votes in past elections, the Associated Press reported. "We are asking the state to set aside those ballots until we can confirm they are legal voters," Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said his office "will only respond to requests that follow due process." The department also said some people on its list may have since become citizens. Washington has more than 5 million registered voters.

Precedent: in November 2020, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, offered up to $1 million in rewards for evidence leading to voter fraud convictions, Fox News reported then. The Guardian says the first payout from that offer was $25,000, and it went to a Democratic poll worker whose tip led to the conviction of a 72-year-old Republican who voted twice, citing a 2021 Washington Post report.

Strongest case for the offer: voter fraud does happen and is prosecuted, and supporters argue a large reward could bring out cases that would otherwise go unreported. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, tracks proven cases in a public database, and the Justice Department is bringing new charges this month.

Strongest case against it: critics say the offer has no funding source or process, and that it feeds doubts about elections in the final week of a campaign. Courts did not uphold Trump's claims that fraud cost him the 2020 election, the New York Post noted.

What the evidence shows (administration): Heritage's own database lists 557 proven instances nationally from 2016 to 2025, the New York Post reported, and more than 1,600 over about 40 years, NBC News reported. That is a tiny share of the hundreds of millions of votes cast. Past federal lists have also shrunk on review: Nevada's 1,500 suspected noncitizen voters turned up none, and Maricopa County's 207 possible noncitizens came down to eight, the AP reported.

Weak spot (critics): rare is not never. Cases keep getting proven: besides Monday's 48 indictments, a Trump supporter was sentenced in July to six months of house arrest, three years of probation and $6,200 in fines for voting in both Pennsylvania and Florida in 2020, the New York Post reported. Critics who say fraud doesn't happen are overstating what the record shows.

What's still unknown: who would pay the reward and under what law, whether any federal agency will run a tip line, and whether Washington will set aside any ballots before results are certified.

Trump's wording is from his Oct. 26 Truth Social post, as quoted by NBC News, and his remarks to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, as quoted by the Guardian and the New York Post. Reports differ on the size of the 2020 Texas offer: Fox News reported up to $1 million, and the Guardian reports the first payout was $25,000. The White House gave no further details to NBC News or ABC News. The figure of 48 noncitizen-voting indictments announced Monday is as reported by the New York Post; US Brief could not find the Justice Department release. Heritage Foundation figures are as reported by NBC News (more than 1,600 cases over about 40 years) and the New York Post (557 proven instances from 2016 to 2025). Washington details are from the Associated Press, via PBS. US Brief could not find an AP or Reuters account of the reward itself at publish time.