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.
But the subpoenas come as DOJ leaders have suggested California officials may be liable for aiding and abetting criminal activity if they don’t comply with the department’s order to review mail-in ballots that DOJ suspects were cast by noncitizens.
“The Department of Justice does not comment on leaks about alleged grand jury subpoenas,” a department spokeswoman said in a statement. “But to be clear, the district court judge explained that voting unlawfully results in criminal exposure. Consistent with this, California also wrote in its filing that the remedy for unlawful voting is through criminal prosecution. Thus, while DOJ maintains that a civil remedy is still available, all agree that noncitizen voting is properly addressed through criminal law.”
A spokeswoman for California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who oversees her state’s elections apparatus, didn’t provide a comment.
Leadership in the state’s four federal districts have been grappling with how to handle the directive from Justice Department headquarters. Some of the offices have objected to a mandate that seeks to interfere with the Nov. 3 election, the two people said.
Recipients would have the ability to file motions to quash the subpoenas, which would likely trigger litigation that could extend past the midterms.
—With assistance from
