California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office lashed out at President Donald Trump’s Justice Department Wednesday after federal officials threatened to sue California unless it investigated a list of suspected noncitizen voters within 48 hours — and withheld ballots from people whose citizenship could not be confirmed.
“Trump’s DOJ is now demanding CA election officials violate federal law. Screw yourself!” Newsom’s office wrote on X.
Trump’s DOJ is now demanding CA election officials violate federal law.
Screw yourself!
This desperate, last minute attack on our elections will have NO impact on voters.
We will continue to run free and fair elections.
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) October 15, 2026
In an October 13 letter, Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter ordered California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County election officials to investigate people the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens” and who were sent mail-in ballots for the November 3 election.
[NOTE: McCotter warned that Washington would seek emergency court intervention if California did not comply.]
Weber, California’s top election official, objected to both the demand and the evidence behind it. The Justice Department, she said, had not even supplied her office with the list of voters it expected her to investigate.
Characterizing the move as the latest in an ongoing campaign, Weber wrote: “The USDOJ’s relentless efforts to unlawfully gain access to states’ protected voter data and purge voter rolls serve only to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections.”
She pointed out that in July federal officials claimed California had 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls, but did not provide evidence.
“Now the USDOJ, under threat of ‘emergency’ litigation, demands that California blindly trust this administration without any evidence or legal authority to justify its request,” Weber wrote in her official response.
Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan received a password-protected thumb drive that reportedly contained the names, but did not access the files, saying the device was not considered a secure way to transmit voter information.
“Federal and state laws are clear on how voter eligibility is established,” Logan said, according to the Associated Press. “And any action to remove a voter from eligibility must be based on verifiable information, not assertions of unconfirmed data matching.”
With this letter, the Trump Administration is demanding that California election officials voluntarily violate federal law enshrined by Congress.
Completely unacceptable and inappropriate for the feds to do — especially with their track record.
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) October 15, 2026
California Attorney General Rob Bonta also attacked the administration’s voter-fraud claims, calling them “absolutely false conspiracy theories that there is widespread voter fraud when there is not.”
“Will we be engaging in conspiracy theories? We will not,” Bonta told reporters.
The Justice Department maintains that its intervention is intended to protect legally cast ballots.
“Allowing noncitizens to vote cancels citizen votes,” McCotter wrote in the letters obtained by Reuters.
Justice Department spokesperson Kiersten Pels said the administration would pursue legal action to protect election integrity and enforce federal law.
[NOTE: Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections. It also generally prohibits systematic voter-roll removals within 90 days of a federal election. California officials contend that the DOJ’s demands conflict with federal protections for eligible voters.]
The Trump administration has encountered problems with its lists before.
In July, federal officials claimed that approximately 1,500 noncitizens were registered to vote in Nevada. After the state examined the names the administration supplied, it found that none were registered noncitizens, according to the AP.
Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber, president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, called the latest 48-hour deadline “completely unreasonable.”