Coverage spread: 2 sources — 2 unrated
Lean ratings via AllSides / Media Bias-Fact-Check. How this works.
Where they agree
- Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes told CISA leaders “I don’t trust you” during a Monday election security call.
- CISA’s briefing offered no concrete support for the 2026 midterms, focusing instead on 2028, according to call participants.
- CISA’s support for states has declined sharply since Trump’s second term began, including staff cuts and no permanent director.
- The call came amid broader Trump administration efforts to assert control over election administration, including funding threats.
Where they differ
- Phoenix New Times includes fuller detail on the FEMA funding lawsuit and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s threats to withhold federal funds.
- Arizona Mirror’s article is truncated and does not include the full context on CISA leadership names or the lawsuit that Phoenix New Times provides.
- Phoenix New Times notes its report originated from Votebeat, a nonprofit outlet, framing it within that outlet’s specialized election-administration coverage.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes publicly confronted leaders of the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency during a Monday call with state election officials, telling them “I don’t trust you” after the agency offered what participants described as a vague, defensive briefing instead of concrete help securing the 2026 midterms.
What happened on the call?
CISA convened a rare briefing this week for state election officials, the kind of session the agency used to hold routinely to share threat intelligence and coordinate election security work. Participants said acting CISA Director Nick Andersen and Jim Harrell, the agency’s assistant director for integrated operations, gave what one attendee called a “CYA” — cover-your-backside — presentation. Rather than offering classified threat briefings, equipment testing, or Election Day preparedness guidance for the vote that is now less than 90 days away, CISA leadership reportedly spent more time discussing plans for 2028 than the immediate midterm election. Fontes, frustrated by the lack of substance, told the agency directly that he did not trust it.
Why has trust between states and CISA broken down?
CISA was once a central resource for states trying to protect elections from hacking, foreign interference, and other cyber threats, providing classified briefings, vulnerability testing for voting equipment, and joint risk planning. That relationship shifted after President Trump returned to office. His administration scaled back CISA’s support role, cut agency staffing, and opened an investigation into the agency’s former director, whom Trump accused of disloyalty for rejecting his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. CISA has had no permanent director since Trump’s second term began.
What else is fueling the tension?
The friction over CISA’s role fits into a broader pattern of the administration asserting more control over how elections are run. Federal officials have threatened to arrest election officials who allow noncitizens to vote. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said he will withhold federal funding from states that refuse to adopt the administration’s proposed election overhauls. Separately, a coalition of Democratic-led states and officials has sued the Department of Homeland Security, accusing it of withholding FEMA funding as leverage to force states into disputed election changes. Officials went into Monday’s call hoping CISA would finally re-engage after more than a year of relative silence; instead, many came away feeling the agency offered no real assurances ahead of November.
How are the two outlets covering this differently?
Arizona Mirror and Phoenix New Times published essentially the same Votebeat-originated report, with Phoenix New Times running the fuller version including detail on CISA’s leadership, the FEMA lawsuit, and Mullin’s funding threats; Arizona Mirror’s version is truncated and cuts off before those details are laid out.
Why this matters going into the midterms
With the 2026 election under 90 days away at the time of the call, state election officials say they are being left without the federal cybersecurity backstop they’ve relied on in past cycles, at the same time the administration is pushing funding threats and legal disputes tied to election policy. The breakdown in communication and trust between a key federal security agency and the state officials who administer elections raises questions about how prepared states will be to counter hacking attempts, foreign interference, or other threats this fall.
Sources
Featured photo: Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)