The U.S. Department of Justice continues its battle for election integrity, particularly with the recalcitrant state of California. Both Golden State and Los Angeles County election officials have flatly refused to sequester ballots of 20,000 people whom the DOJ has determined may be “likely noncitizens.”
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Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, and his useful idiot, CA Attorney General Rob Bonta, continue to bluster and issue threats. Despite the fact that on Wednesday, Clinton-appointed Central District of California Judge David Carter ruled against the DOJ’s emergency motion.
A warning to Donald Trump: I’m deploying election lawyers to key battleground districts in California to protect every vote. And I just made it a FELONY to illegally seize ballots.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 29, 2026
As our Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar wrote Thursday morning:
Judge David Carter of the Central District of California ruled against the Department of Justice’s emergency motion to require California and Los Angeles County election officials to sequester ballots returned by those on a list of 20,000 people the federal government had determined to be “likely noncitizens.”
In a scathing 26-page order, Carter likened the federal government’s effort to prevent illegal aliens from voting to efforts to keep black Americans or women from voting, and to Jim Crow-era laws like “poll taxes, literary tests, and other obstacles to prevent people from casting their vote.”
At the end of that order, however, Carter wrote that the DOJ has a “remedy”:
There is a clear remedy available. The United States can prosecute individuals according to Section 611, as it has historically and recently done. California also has established procedures to cancel the voter registrations of any individuals proven ineligible.
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The DOJ says, “Your terms are acceptable.”
SCOOP: Trump DOJ has directed California’s US attorneys to start criminally subpoenaing state & local officials over their roles facilitating allegedly unlawful voting. Prosecutors in LA & elsewhere expected to start issuing grand jury subpoenas today. https://t.co/k12ScPTBLw
— Ben Penn (@benjaminpenn) October 29, 2026
Here are the Justice Department’s new directives.
Justice Department leadership directed top federal prosecutors in California to pursue criminal subpoenas of state and local officials regarding their roles administering allegedly illegal voting, according to two people familiar with the situation.
The directive, which federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and at least one other California district began carrying out Thursday, marks a major escalation in the Trump administration’s pre-midterms push to scrutinize the integrity of state-run elections.
An initial batch of subpoenas went out to California officials Thursday, said another person who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The Los Angeles US attorney’s office led by President Donald Trump ally Bill Essayli has been eager to criminally investigate the officials — including California’s secretary of state, said one of the individuals, who like others spoke anonymously about sensitive investigations.
Pressure from the deputy attorney general’s office for grand jury subpoenas came shortly after a federal judge rejected the department’s attempt to force California to set aside up to 20,000 ballots — a move the judge called a threat to democracy.
Names of politicians and election officials being targeted and what criminal charges the department will pursue isn’t immediately known.
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Having lived for decades in California and covered its tortured election process, I could probably name a few off the top of my head. Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan comes to mind, as does CA Secretary of State Shirley Weber.
Well, what do you know: Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Update: Subpoenas have been issued, and Calif. Secretary of State is among officials LA First Assistant US Atty Bill Essayli expected to be targeting.
— Ben Penn (@benjaminpenn) October 29, 2026
In the meantime, tip of the spear, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli forges ahead, despite the courts and Democrat senators’ best efforts to sideline him. He had this message from AG Bonta on Thursday evening:
Rob Bonta calls our list of noncitizens “garbage.” He should check his own voter rolls, which are inaccurate and full of ineligible voters.
At least 20,000 suspected noncitizens are registered to vote in California. We have the receipts and presented them in court. Americans deserve to have their votes counted equally.
WATCH:
Rob Bonta calls our list of noncitizens “garbage.” He should check his own voter rolls, which are inaccurate and full of ineligible voters. At least 20,000 suspected noncitizens are registered to vote in California. We have the receipts and presented them in court. Americans deserve to have their votes counted equally.
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) October 29, 2026
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Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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