Kate Laurensen is a veteran reporter. She started out covering entertainment news for the local city paper before moving up to the City desk. She studied journalism at San Francisco City College for the Arts.
August 12 , 2026
WASHINGTON — In a recent podcast interview, President Donald Trump suggested that the federal government could consider declaring a national emergency ahead of the November Leonid meteor shower, citing the possibility that a large meteor could pose a threat to public safety and disrupt the election.
Trump pointed to the widely accepted scientific conclusion that an asteroid impact contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs roughly 66 million years ago. He said federal agencies should consider precautionary measures to ensure that voting infrastructure and election operations remain protected.
“We have to be prepared,” Trump said. “Nobody knows exactly what could happen, and we want to make sure the election is safe.”
The Leonid meteor shower is a real annual astronomical event that occurs when Earth passes through debris left by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. Meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Leo, producing a display that is generally visible without specialized equipment under suitable conditions.
Astronomers distinguish ordinary meteor showers from the much larger asteroid impacts associated with mass extinctions. The meteors observed during a typical Leonid shower are small particles that burn up in Earth's atmosphere and are not considered a threat to the public.
Federal officials declined to say whether an emergency declaration was under consideration. Election administrators said they routinely maintain contingency plans for a range of natural disasters and other disruptions.
Scientists also emphasized that the occurrence of the Leonid meteor shower itself does not indicate that a dangerous asteroid is approaching Earth. While potentially hazardous near-Earth objects are monitored by government and scientific organizations, the annual Leonid shower is a predictable astronomical event.
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