Senators Demand to Know if Dr. Oz Collaborated With Election Denial Groups
Senators Demand to Know if Dr. Oz Collaborated With Election Denial Groups
Save this storySave this storyWith a week to go before the midterms, a group of Democratic senators are demanding that Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), share communications his department may have had with far-right groups promoting a baseless conspiracy theory about left-wing groups stealing votes from residents of nursing homes.
距离中期选举还有一周，一群民主党参议员要求医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心（CMS）负责人穆罕默德·奥兹（Mehmet Oz）公开其部门可能与极右翼团体进行的沟通记录。这些团体正在散布一种毫无根据的阴谋论，声称左翼组织正在窃取疗养院居民的选票。
In July, Oz’s agency issued a memo rescinding previous guidance on how staff at nursing homes could help residents to vote by assisting with mail-in voting or transporting residents to polling locations. The memo replaced that guidance with threats of prosecution if staff “engage in inappropriate coercion or other violations of residents’ rights.” Referring to this memo, election denial groups last month began to boost claims that voter fraud was happening inside care facilities.
今年7月，奥兹领导的机构发布了一份备忘录，撤销了此前关于疗养院工作人员如何通过协助邮寄投票或运送居民前往投票站来帮助居民投票的指导意见。该备忘录以起诉威胁取代了上述指导，称如果工作人员“进行不当胁迫或以其他方式侵犯居民权利”，将面临起诉。上个月，选举否认团体援引这份备忘录，开始大肆宣扬护理机构内存在选民欺诈的说法。
That campaign was spearheaded by the Election Integrity Network, a group led by Cleta Mitchell, a former adviser to president Donald Trump. “These left-wing groups go into the nursing homes, and they go into the group homes, and they basically steal the votes of these most vulnerable,” Mitchell said in a recent appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room show.
这场运动由“选举诚信网络”（Election Integrity Network）牵头，该组织由唐纳德·特朗普总统的前顾问克莱塔·米切尔（Cleta Mitchell）领导。米切尔在最近一次参加史蒂夫·班农（Steve Bannon）的《作战室》（War Room）节目时表示：“这些左翼团体进入疗养院和集体宿舍，基本上是在窃取这些最弱势群体的选票。”
Now, citing WIRED’s reporting on the nursing home conspiracy theories, a group of senators that includes Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Alex Padilla, Mazie Hirono, Ron Wyden, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jeff Merkley, and Cory Booker wrote in a letter to CMS to ”urgently request that CMS rescind its July 2026 memorandum and reinstate its 2020 and 2024 nursing home voting guidance.”
目前，援引《连线》（WIRED）关于疗养院阴谋论的报道，包括伊丽莎白·沃伦（Elizabeth Warren）、理查德·布卢门撒尔（Richard Blumenthal）、亚历克斯·帕迪利亚（Alex Padilla）、广野庆子（Mazie Hirono）、罗恩·怀登（Ron Wyden）、克里斯汀·吉利布兰德（Kirsten Gillibrand）、杰夫·默克利（Jeff Merkley）和科里·布克（Cory Booker）在内的一群参议员致信CMS，要求“紧急请求CMS撤销其2026年7月的备忘录，并恢复其2020年和2024年的疗养院投票指导意见”。
“This is as low as it gets,” Warren tells WIRED. “The Trump administration’s unfounded allegations of election fraud are inspiring election denial groups to harass nursing home residents and staff. With less than a week until Election Day, every lawmaker in America should be standing up for fair elections and pushing back on this attack on seniors’ voting rights.”
“这简直卑劣至极，”沃伦告诉《连线》。“特朗普政府关于选举欺诈的毫无根据的指控，正在激励选举否认团体骚扰疗养院的居民和工作人员。距离选举日不到一周，美国每一位立法者都应该站出来捍卫公平选举，并反击这种对老年人投票权的攻击。”
A CMS spokesperson did not respond to questions about the agency’s communications with election denial groups but instead referred WIRED to the July 2026 memo.
CMS发言人没有回应有关该机构与选举否认团体沟通的问题，而是将《连线》转至2026年7月的备忘录。
In the letter, Warren and her colleagues specifically ask Oz about communications between CMS and Mitchell, the Election Integrity Network, and Project Civica, a New York–based election-denial group. The senators demand Oz “identify each organization and individual involved, the dates and nature of those communications, and any recommendations provided to CMS.”
在信中，沃伦及其同事特别询问了奥兹关于CMS与米切尔、“选举诚信网络”以及总部位于纽约的选举否认团体“公民项目”（Project Civica）之间的沟通情况。参议员们要求奥兹“明确涉及的每个组织和个人、这些沟通的日期和性质，以及向CMS提供的任何建议”。
Mitchell and EIN did not respond to a request for comment. “[We] had no communications or interactions with CMS regarding its memorandum or our Adopt a Care Facility initiative,” Kim Hermance, president of Project Civica, tells WIRED. “Our only engagement with the agency’s guidance has been reviewing the publicly available information on its website.”
米切尔和“选举诚信网络”未回应置评请求。“公民项目”总裁金·赫曼斯（Kim Hermance）告诉《连线》：“我们没有就该备忘录或我们的‘领养护理设施’倡议与CMS进行过任何沟通或互动。我们与该机构指导意见的唯一接触就是查阅其网站上公开的信息。”
In August, Warren sent a letter to Oz questioning the July memo and asking him to reverse the changes. In September, Oz responded in a letter to Warren directly addressing the guidance that was removed from the CMS website in relation to helping nursing home residents with voting.
今年8月，沃伦致信奥兹，质疑7月的备忘录并要求他撤销这些变更。9月，奥兹在给沃伦的回信中，直接回应了从CMS网站上删除的关于帮助疗养院居民投票的指导意见。
“Providing neutral logistical assistance, such as helping a resident request a mail-in ballot, completing a ballot per the resident’s own expressed wishes, or arranging transportation to a polling location, is not the type of conduct that would give rise to a voter fraud investigation,” Oz writes.
奥兹写道：“提供中立的后勤协助，例如帮助居民申请邮寄选票、根据居民表达的意愿填写选票，或安排前往投票站的交通，并不属于会引发选民欺诈调查的行为。”
Addressing the apparent contradiction in this response, the senators in their letter to Oz asked: “Why has CMS not reinstated its previous guidance clarifying nursing homes’ responsibilities to facilitate residents’ voting rights?”
针对这一回应中明显的矛盾，参议员们在给奥兹的信中问道：“为什么CMS没有恢复其此前明确疗养院有责任促进居民投票权的指导意见？”
With just days to go to the midterms, efforts to boost baseless conspiracy theories about voter fraud continue to gain traction. On Tuesday, Trump said he is willing to accept the outcome of the midterms if they are “honest elections.” But his administration has spent months pushing conspiracy theories about mail-in voting and noncitizen voting, while actively trying to disenfranchise voters.
距离中期选举仅剩几天，推动关于选民欺诈的毫无根据的阴谋论的努力仍在持续发酵。周二，特朗普表示，如果中期选举是“诚实的选举”，他愿意接受结果。但他的政府几个月来一直在兜售关于邮寄投票和非公民投票的阴谋论，同时积极试图剥夺选民的投票权。
Updated 2:15 pm ET, 10/28/2026: This story has been updated with comment from Project Civica.
美国东部时间2026年10月28日下午2:15更新：本文已更新，加入了“公民项目”的评论。