The federal government, through the Department of Justice and the Central District Chair in California, is investigating voter fraud issues in Los Angeles.
Posted by Ask Dr. Drew, Checked
- Sources
- 6 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 88%
Ask Dr. DrewOct 21, 2026
The Justice Department's Central District of California office, led by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, has run election fraud investigations in Los Angeles since June 2026, and the probe was still active as of October 2026.
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What was said
… All of that is illegal elections activity that needs to be investigated. Unfortunately, our Attorney General, Rob Bonta, is not investigating those things. Thankfully, the federal government, Bill Saili, with the Department of Justice and the Central District Chair in California, is investigating those issues, but we do have problems. What I tell people, though, is I did election integrity work for years, like you said. I've litigated in court elections issues for many, many years. What I will say is we have got to go out and make it too big to rig. …
Ask Dr. Drew · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. The US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said in June 2026 that it had opened "multiple election fraud investigations" related to California's elections and sent a prosecutor to the LA County vote-counting center.[1][2]
Supports. The Justice Department's September 2026 press release describes a federal indictment, prosecuted by the Central District of California, over paying people on Skid Row to sign petitions with stolen voter identities.[4]
Supports. In October 2026, federal prosecutors charged 28 people in Los Angeles-area election cases under an investigation called "Operation Protect the Vote," and DOJ sued California over roughly 20,000 alleged noncitizen registrants.[3][5][6]
Context. Coverage describes the broader fraud allegations as unproven, and CNN reported in June that the Justice Department had launched no new criminal cases tied to how the LA city administered that contest.[2][7]
Sources
7 sources: 3 fact-checkers, 1 primary, 2 not rated, 1 tier 2
- 1US attorney opens investigations into California's electionsapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2FactChecking Trump's Contentious 'Meet the Press' Interview - FactCheck.orgfactcheck.org · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 3Trump administration takes California ballot fight to Supreme Courtreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 4Office of Public Affairs | Six Charged in California, Kansas ...justice.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 5California residents accused by feds of voter fraud react ...latimes.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6Did the Trump administration just prove that voter fraud in California ...sfchronicle.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 7Justice Department officials dance around Trump's unsupported ...cnn.com · tier 2 · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- The federal government is conducting enforcement actions related to voter fraud in California.True
- The Department of Justice sued the state of California and Los Angeles County because local officials declined to investigate non-citizen voting allegations.True
- Federal agents busted a California voter fraud network earlier this week.True
- The Department of Justice charged 28 people in California with voting illegally or unlawfully registering to vote in federal elections.True
- The U.S. Justice Department delivered a thumb drive containing a list of 20,000 names to Los Angeles County election officials with a 48-hour deadline to investigate them.True