WASHINGTON (AP) — The highest-ranking officer in the U.S. military says there are no plans to send troops to polling places during November's midterm congressional elections, addressing concerns among Democrats that the Trump administration could use the military to interfere with the vote.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the statement in a letter to Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who recently asked Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to confirm they won't send troops to the polls.
“The Joint Force has no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections,” Caine said in the letter to Slotkin, which was obtained Monday by The Associated Press. “Likewise, the Joint Force has no plans to use such personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or other election-related material.”
Caine, who advises Hegseth and President Donald Trump on military matters, also wrote: “I have neither received nor anticipate receiving any unlawful order concerning the role of the Joint Force in the upcoming November 2026 midterm elections.”
Anxiety among Democrats that the Trump administration could try to meddle in the midterm elections has grown, particularly after the president deployed federal agents in Democratic-led states over the objections of local leaders.
Slotkin told the AP earlier in August that Trump has been laying the groundwork to claim the elections were stolen. She noted that Trump contemplated using the military to seize voting machines after his loss in 2020 and has deployed the National Guard to cities against the wishes of Democratic leaders. He also deployed active duty Marines to Los Angeles during his immigration crackdown in 2025.
Federal law prohibits the deployment of armed federal forces to election locations unless “necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.” If any element of the military were to get involved, it would likely be the National Guard under state control.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles denied in a Vanity Fair interview last year that Trump would use the military to suppress voting in the midterms.
Sonja Thrasher, Slotkin's press secretary, said Hegseth has not replied to the letter asking him to confirm troops won't be deployed to the polls in November. Slotkin had asked for a response by last Thursday.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to an email from the AP asking for the status of Hegseth's response to Slotkin. The Pentagon previously said it would respond directly to the senator.
Slotkin asked Hegseth during an April congressional hearing if he would follow orders to seize ballots. Hegseth called the question a “gotcha hypothetical,” but said, “I’ve never been ordered to do anything illegal, and I won’t.”
In 2020, Gen. Mark Milley, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responded to a similar letter from Slotkin, then a congresswoman.
“I believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical U.S. military,” Milley wrote. “In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military.”
FILE - Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., speaks during a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
OSLO, Norway (AP) — The coffin of late King Harald V of Norway traveled through the royal palace to its chapel on Monday, with Queen Mette-Marit joining the procession in her first official appearance since assuming the title.
Harald passed away Friday at age 89, and his son, the crown prince, immediately became King Haakon VIII. His wife became Queen Mette-Marit, while his oldest child, Ingrid Alexandra, became crown princess and heir to the throne.
Haakon, 53, will take the oath to Norway’s constitution on Tuesday. His tasks in the near future will include shoring up support for the monarchy following controversies over his wife’s past contacts with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his stepson’s rape conviction.
Mette-Marit has been largely absent from the public eye in the wake of her lung transplant in June. She was diagnosed in 2018 with pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive disease that damages and scars lung tissue. It can cause serious breathing problems, and there is no known cure.
Mette-Marit and Queen Sonja, Harald’s widow, held hands and walked behind the coffin during Monday's procession.
Since Harald’s death, the royal family and the country have been in an official state of mourning. Norwegians and visitors expressed their grief over the weekend by laying flowers, writing cards and lighting candles in front of the royal palace in Oslo, where the coffin arrived late Friday from the hospital.
The coffin stayed in the palace’s Red Salon over the weekend before traveling to the royal chapel on Monday, where it will remain until the funeral. The public can go to the chapel to pay their respects to the late king beginning Tuesday, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported.
The funeral is set for Sept. 9.
King Harald V's coffin is moved by King Haakon VIII., left, and and Queen Mette-Marit’s son Marius Borg Hoiby, second right, from the Red Salon to the Palace Chapel, in Oslo, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Ole Berg-Rusten/Pool Photo via AP)
Norway's Queen Mette-Mari, Queen Sonja, Princess Märtha Louise and King Haakon come out to the Palace Square to greet the people and look at the sea of flowers and greetings that mourners have laid down four days after the death of King Harald V, in Oslo Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Cornelius Poppe/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Norway's King Harald V's coffin is placed in the Palace Chapel in Oslo, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Cornelius Poppe/Pool Photo via AP)
Norway's King Harald V's coffin is moved by King Harald's family and court staff from the Red Salon to the Palace Chapel in Oslo, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Javad Parsa/Pool Photo via AP)
Norway's King Harald V's coffin is moved by King Harald's family and court staff from the Red Salon to the Palace Chapel in Oslo, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Javad Parsa/Pool Photo via AP)
King Harald V's coffin is moved from the Red Salon to the Palace Chapel, in Oslo, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix via AP)
Norway's King Harald V's coffin is moved by King Harald's family and court staff from the Red Salon to the Palace Chapel in Oslo, Norway, on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. (Stian Lysberg Solum/Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - Norway's King Harald arrives at a central London hotel for a pre-royal wedding dinner hosted by Lady Elizabeth Anson and attended by members of the British royal family and foreign royal families, in London, on April, 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
FILE - King Harald V of Norway and his wife Sonja leave the Notre Dame cathedral after attending at the funeral of the Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, in Luxembourg, on May 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)
