Trump’s attorney general won’t rule out DOJ action to stop states from certifying midterms results

Trump’s attorney general won’t rule out DOJ action to stop states from certifying midterms results Todd Blanche suggests the Justice Department could intervene in a ‘doomsday’ scenario as federal agents ramp up investigations and prosecutions while voting is already underway - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in Attorney General Todd Blanche said won’t rule out having the Department of Justice take action that could block states from certifying election results. “Yes, of course there’s scenarios we could all come up with, hypothetically — some ‘doomsday’ scenario, for example,” he told reporters Thursday. “I don’t think it’s proper to make any kind of conclusory statements about what could happen in the future.” While it’s “never” the Justice Department’s intention to “improperly interfere with elections or the state confirmation process or certification process,” he told reporters, “to say that there’s no circumstances that we would ever do that, of course, I’m not going to say that,” he said. “But am I planning my days around the election to be somewhere to not certify? Of course not,” he added. His comments follow the Justice Department’s blitz of investigations to find evidence of alleged voter fraud, including door-to-door searches for noncitizen voters and criminal prosecutions and lawsuits in California that could derail ballot counting in the state. The Justice Department also is mulling whether to launch more election-related litigation against states after losing more than two dozen lawsuits over access to voter data and the Supreme Court’s rejection of President Donald Trump’s plan to overhaul mail-in voting. Government attorneys sued California to force state officials to review whether 18,000 registered voters had fraudulently cast their ballots. California is among eight states with an all-mail election, and ballots are sent to registered voters’ households automatically. Trump also votes by mail — he voted by mail twice in 2026 and is expected to cast his ballot for Florida’s general elections this fall. The Justice Department’s role in U.S. elections is strictly limited by law and the Constitution, which ensures that states have the sole authority to administer elections. “We’ve seen this from administration officials in the past where they refuse to rule out clearly unconstitutional and illegal things,” according to David Becker, executive director and founder of the nonpartisan and nonprofit Center for Election and Innovation Research. Though the Justice Department has “no authority” over the certification process, and courts would likely block the federal government from doing so, the Trump administration appears to be signaling that it could try to intervene, Becker told reporters Thursday. “It’s not responsible for them to do that,” he said. The Justice Department’s attempts to interfere would be merely “performative,” knowing full well that “they don’t have the power,” Becker added. “The more social media and press that the DOJ does, and less that they’re litigating successfully in court, tells [us] that they’re using it as a political propaganda arm,” he said. On Wednesday, a federal judge in California blocked the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out field operations intended to uncover voter fraud in nine states as part of the Trump administration’s “Unlawful Voter Initiative,” which ties the president’s anti-immigration campaign to “election integrity.” The ruling from District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguin blocks federal agents carrying out field interviews that “involve or are likely to involve persons” who agents “know, suspect, or should reasonably know or suspect are U.S. citizens.” The administration's surge of officers is likely to intimidate or suppress voter participation and registration, with just days left before Election Day. The fears of voting rights groups who filed the lawsuit as well as the “public’s interest in safe elections, free from interference or intimidation, far exceed defendants’ purported interest in combating unlawful voting by non-U.S. citizens,” Martínez-Olguin wrote. Homeland Security “surveils, covertly infiltrates and interrogates the staff of nonprofits and churches conducting voter engagement” and had targeted nearly 150 such nonprofit groups as of July, according to court filings. Internal documents introduced in the case revealed that agents were directed to focus on California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s criminal investigation arm has also been tasked with trying to “dismantle illicit facilitation networks” accused of registering noncitizens to vote, according to internal documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by legal advocacy group Democracy Forward and shared with The Independent. Documents show that ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division obtained more than 48 million records from Heather Honey, a right-wing election activist who supported Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. She now serves as a deputy assistant secretary for election integrity at Homeland Security. Following reports of door-to-door operations targeting alleged fraud, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations told The Independent that the agency is “committed to protecting the cornerstone of the nation’s democracy” and “committed to restoring integrity to our election systems and ensuring that American citizens and only American citizens are electing American leaders.” The agency “reviews voter records to determine whether the evidence supports a criminal investigation and, where appropriate, refers the matter to the Department of Justice for prosecution,” the person said. Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments