The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation in California as it continues its effort to prove that as many as 20,000 non-citizens are on the state’s voter rolls, a U.S. official confirmed to NBC News on Thursday.
The official said the Justice Department has issued federal grand jury subpoenas to local elections officials across the state. It’s unclear exactly how many subpoenas were sent out and who received them.
The New York Times was first to report the new subpoenas.
In response to an NBC News inquiry Thursday, the Justice Department declined to comment on “leaks regarding purported grand jury subpoenas” but said federal courts have ruled that illegal voting results in criminal exposure.
The U.S. official told NBC News that receiving a subpoena does not necessarily mean a person is necessarily a target, just that they may have information relevant to the investigation. The official added that the Justice Department rarely subpoenas people it intends to charge with crimes.
The new subpoenas follow a federal judge’s decision Wednesday to reject the Trump administration’s request to separate 20,000 mail-in ballots from purported noncitizens in California, calling into question the accuracy of the administration’s process for identifying those people.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder and Clerk Dean Logan touted the decision Thursday.
“At every step, the U.S. Department of Justice has taken a confrontational and contradictory approach. Election officials act in accordance with state and federal law,” Logan said in a statement, adding that “clear court rulings” from a federal judge and an appeals court have upheld this.
Last week, Justice Department officials sent letters to 57 of California’s 58 counties warning local election officials to cooperate with federal investigations into illegal voting or face investigations themselves.
The Justice Department stepped up its efforts this week, sending similar letters to Washington state officials and asking its secretary of state to review a list of 400 registrants it believes are noncitizens. He also requested that the state sequester all ballots cast by these people.
The Trump administration faced two legal setbacks in its efforts this week when an appeals court on Monday rejected its request to block California from counting the mail-in ballots of so-called non-citizens and a federal judge on Wednesday rejected its request to separate those ballots.
The Trump administration has been pressuring state officials for months to help investigate allegations of voter fraud, after suing 30 states and the District of Columbia for refusing to provide their voter registration list data.
Although non-citizens can appear on the electoral roll, this remains rare. Additionally, newly naturalized citizens are often incorrectly labeled as non-citizens, especially since there is no comprehensive list of U.S. citizens.
Election experts have argued that the Trump administration’s lawsuits rely on flimsy legal arguments, especially since the Justice Department lacks the legal authority to intervene in election certification.
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