Trump’s childhood friend urges him to declare national emergency to take control of midterms: Report
WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump's longtime friend Peter Ticktin is urging the president to declare a national emergency and assume control over the November midterm elections, according to a CNN report published on Monday, July 6.
Ticktin, who says he and Trump have remained in touch for decades, argued that such a move is necessary because he believes the same forces he claims influenced the 2020 election remain active.
Tina Peters’ attorney, Peter Ticktin, has shared an image with reporters of him meeting in the Oval Office with the president earlier this week.
— Liz Landers (@ElizLanders) July 2, 2026
Ticktin told me in the winter that he thinks the president could invoke a national emergency around elections this fall. pic.twitter.com/S2NAANSnXi
Peter Ticktin claims voting machines remain at the center of election concerns
Ticktin, an 80-year-old Florida lawyer who describes himself as Trump's boyhood "best friend," told CNN that he believes foreign countries, including China, Russia, Venezuela and Iran, interfered in the 2020 presidential election through voting machines.
Despite multiple investigations finding no evidence to support claims that the election was stolen, Ticktin insisted the alleged threat has not disappeared.
"The machines are still in play," Ticktin warned, arguing that Republicans' failure to pass the SAVE Act has left the country vulnerable ahead of the upcoming midterms.
According to the report, Ticktin believes Democrats are plotting to win enough House and Senate seats to impeach both Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
He further claimed that such a scenario would ultimately allow House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to take power after replacing current House Speaker Mike Johnson following the elections.
Ticktin argued that Trump's declaring a national emergency and taking charge of voting would be the only way to ensure what he considers a fair election.
The report noted, however, that such a move would almost certainly trigger a constitutional crisis because election administration is handled by Congress and individual states rather than the president.
Peter Ticktin insists Nicolas Maduro will reveal what happened in 2020
Although no evidence has emerged to support Trump's repeated claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Ticktin said he believes new developments will eventually prove those allegations.
According to him, the January capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro could change everything.
"He's gonna talk," Ticktin said. "He's gonna sing like a canary. Maduro is one of the heads of the snake that caused all of this."
Ticktin predicted that Maduro's testimony would explain exactly how voting machines were allegedly compromised and would remove any remaining doubts surrounding the 2020 election, and went on to describe Trump's defeat to former President Joe Biden as "a surreptitious overtaking of a country.”
The report also noted that a joint review by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security released in March 2021 found claims that foreign governments had successfully altered the election outcome were "not credible."
Peter Ticktin says he and Trump have remained close since school days
Ticktin told CNN that his friendship with Trump dates back to their time together at New York Military Academy during the early 1960s.
"We were very close," Ticktin said. "In fact, you could say we were best friends in our senior year of high school."
He also claimed that he still speaks with Trump several times each year and has maintained an open line of communication.
Ticktin previously represented Trump in a failed 2022 civil lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, in which Trump's legal team accused his former presidential rival of falsely linking him to Russia during his first term.
Beyond that case, Ticktin has remained a familiar figure in MAGA circles.
The report said he has continued advocating for January 6 defendants and also represented Tina Peters, the former county clerk imprisoned over her role in efforts to overturn Biden's 2020 victory.
Peters was released last month after Colorado Gov Jared Polis commuted her sentence.
While Ticktin presented himself as one of Trump's closest longtime confidants, CNN reported that an unnamed White House insider offered a different assessment of the relationship.
According to the source, Ticktin is viewed inside the administration as "well-meaning" but tends to "overstate" how closely he currently works with the president.
