BS BULLETIN:

• CNN’s Jake Tapper reported that outside advisers are urging President Trump to consider extraordinary action around the midterms.
• Tapper said the ideas include declaring martial law or a national emergency and attempting to take control of federal elections.
• The White House says those outside advisers “play no role in election policy.”

Well, that escalated quickly.

CNN’s Jake Tapper says a group of people outside the White House is urging President Trump to consider taking federal control of November’s elections — potentially using martial law or a national emergency.

“This week, The Atlantic magazine reported that there’s a group of outside advisers urging President Trump to take control of federal elections this November,” Tapper said.

Then came the kicker: “They’re encouraging him to perhaps declare martial law or declare a national emergency on or around Election Day.”

But there is a rather important distinction in Tapper’s own report. “The White House said those outside advisors play no role in election policy,” he added.

Tapper also said Trump has been asked publicly about similar ideas and “did not shut it down.”

CNN returned to the subject the following night, with Tapper emphasizing again that the people pushing the idea were “not in the White House but outside the White House.”

So yes, people in Trump’s orbit are apparently talking about martial law and the midterms.

But “outside advisers are pushing Trump to do it” and “the Trump administration is planning to do it” are two very different stories.

And right now, CNN’s own reporting supports the first one.

DBS WIRE SOURCES

• Twitchy — Reaction to Jake Tapper’s martial-law report
• CNN — The Lead transcript, September 25
• CNN — The Lead transcript, September 24