President Donald Trump says he’ll pay a $1 million reward to Americans who report voter fraud that leads to an arrest and conviction.
But the president’s offer comes with a heavy dose of irony. Trump has spent years promoting unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud and trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, including in Georgia, where his efforts prompted a criminal case accusing him of trying to reverse the outcome.
Trump announced the reward on Monday, promising to pay anyone whose report leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for voter fraud.
The offer quickly drew mockery on social media, where critics turned the president’s proposal into a chance to revisit his own election controversies and the RICO indictment he faced for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.
“I’m also going to be issuing a million-dollar bonus or reward or whatever you want to call it for anybody that reports voter fraud, leading to the arrest and conviction of somebody,” Trump told reporters.
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He followed up with a Truth Social post spelling out the terms of the offer.
“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! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
The announcement comes as the Trump administration intensifies efforts to exert greater influence over election oversight ahead of the midterm elections, which will determine control of Congress.
The administration has pressed states to provide voter-registration data, arguing that tighter election rules are necessary to maintain public confidence in the voting process. Critics, including election experts and Democratic and Republican election officials, have characterized some of these efforts as federal overreach.
Some election officials have also told Reuters they are preparing for possible federal intervention in the midterms.
Trump’s reward offer comes at a politically challenging moment for Republicans, who hold narrow majorities in both the House and Senate. His approval rating remains near record lows as voters express frustration over the cost of living and rising fuel prices amid the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
But the president’s own history with election-related allegations quickly became a central theme online.
“No one has committed more fraud and corruption than Donald Trump,” one observer wrote on X.
Another commenter turned the announcement into a mock phone call, suggesting the president himself should be the reward’s target.
“Oh, hi! Is that the fraud line?! I’d like to report a Mr. Donald J. Trump and various other members of his family. Yes, OK, I’ll wait on the line.”
Others questioned whether the reward could apply to allegations involving Trump and his relatives.
“So if I report on Trump and his family, do I get the money?”
One commenter took the joke further, posting booking mugs of people indicted alongside Trump in the Georgia election interference case, asking, “cash, check or Zelle?”
The reactions drew on Trump’s long history of challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump repeatedly made false claims of widespread election fraud and refused to accept his defeat. On Jan. 6, 2021, his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
Georgia became a focal point of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election after he called Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in January 2021 and urged him to find enough votes to reverse Biden’s victory in the state.
During the call, Trump said: “So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellows, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break. We have that in spades already.”
The call prompted an investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought racketeering and other criminal charges against Trump and 18 co-defendants in August 2023.
Trump surrendered at the Fulton County Jail in August 2023, where he was booked, fingerprinted, and photographed for a mug shot before being released on a $200,000 bond. He maintained he did nothing wrong and accused Willis, a Democrat, of election interference.
In November 2025, a prosecutor moved to drop the remaining criminal charges against Trump, and the Georgia case was dismissed.
The dismissal ended the criminal case, but it did not erase the events that made Georgia a focal point of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
