The Department of Justice is escalating its investigation into California’s elections, issuing new federal grand jury subpoenas to California election officials as part of a criminal investigation into claims that as many as 20,000 noncitizens remain on the state’s voter rolls and received mail ballots ahead of the November 3 midterms.
According to Bloomberg Law, Justice Department leadership directed federal prosecutors in California to pursue criminal subpoenas seeking information about election administration and suspected unlawful voting.
According to CBS News, subpoenas issued between October 21 and October 24 targeted officials in the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office.
The subpoenas seek documents concerning correspondence with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, as well as records explaining how election officials identify and prevent illegal voting by noncitizens.
Federal investigators are also seeking evidence of possible noncitizen voting and information about the procedures used to screen voter registrations.
Three Los Angeles County employees were directed to appear before a federal grand jury on November 4, just one day after the midterm elections.
Meanwhile, CalMatters reported that Orange County election officials received another subpoena on Thursday demanding unredacted voter records for approximately 60 individuals.
The criminal investigation involves Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
This escalation comes one day after U.S. District Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee, denied the Trump administration’s request to segregate roughly 20,000 mail ballots linked to people the government identified as likely noncitizens.
Carter criticized the timing so close to the election and the process used to identify the names. The DOJ has already charged 28 people in California in connection with illegal registration or voting under Operation Protect the Vote.
Earlier this month, The Gateway Pundit reported that Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter gave California 48 hours to review a federal list of more than 20,000 people believed to be noncitizens who had already been mailed ballots.
When the state refused, the DOJ filed suit seeking to sequester the ballots until citizenship could be verified. Essayli stated at the time: “We will not allow California to dilute the votes of American citizens.”
The case was initially assigned to a Trump-appointed judge before being switched to Carter. The Gateway Pundit documented the switch and later reported on the Ninth Circuit’s dismissal of the DOJ’s emergency appeal on procedural grounds, as well as the subsequent charges against noncitizens.
California’s universal mail-ballot system, automatic registration practices, and lack of documentary proof of citizenship have been repeatedly highlighted in prior Gateway Pundit coverage as creating vulnerabilities.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan has described the federal approach as “confrontational.” California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the subpoenas an “unacceptable” attack.
Federal officials, for their part, point to criminal statutes (including 18 U.S.C. § 611) that make noncitizen voting in federal elections a crime and note that courts have acknowledged criminal prosecution as the proper remedy for unlawful voting.
With midterms days away, the subpoenas represent the latest step in the Trump administration’s nationwide push to identify and address noncitizen registration and voting, efforts that have already produced charges in multiple states and face ongoing resistance from Democrat-run election offices and certain federal judges.
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