The Deputy Attorney General of the United States sent a letter to the state of California warning of potential criminal exposure for tabulating ballots identified by the administration as likely from non-citizens.
Posted by Deadline: White House, Checked
- Sources
- 5 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 85%
Deadline: White HouseOct 20, 2026
Multiple tier1 outlets (AP, CNN, ABC, Democracy Docket) report that the Justice Department sent letters warning that officials who knowingly tabulate ballots from people identified as likely noncitizens could face criminal exposure, and the letter quoted by AP was from Trent McCotter.
What was said
… Instead, he is standing there again, threatening election workers that they will be hunted down and prosecuted if they do something that he believes to be illegal. Now, that is not a surprise. That's happening only a few days after the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, the number two person at the Department of Justice and the person who oversees criminal prosecutions throughout the department, sends a letter to the state of California saying, You should be on notice that you may have criminal exposure if you allow ballots to be tabulated that we, the administration, have identified as likely from non-citizens. Set aside that already, the reports are coming out that that list is bogus, but all of these are aiming to make clear that if you are an election official and you don't heed what Donald Trump wants, if you don't do his bidding, if you instead follow state …
Deadline: White House · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. AP reports a letter from acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter warning that local officials who process and tabulate ballots from suspected noncitizen voters risk criminal investigation and prosecution.[1][3]
Supports. The letter's language, 'knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful' and 'aiders and abettors to a federal crime,' matches the claim's warning of criminal exposure for tabulating ballots flagged as likely noncitizen.[4][5]
Supports. Reuters reports that the letter, written by acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter, demanded California refuse ballots to people on a list of 'likely noncitizens' and not tabulate returned ballots until citizenship is determined.[2]
Context. The criminal-exposure warning was addressed mainly to county officials (Los Angeles and San Bernardino) rather than the state itself, and the post's 'Deputy Attorney General' omits the 'acting' title; these are peripheral imprecisions rather than contradictions.[5][6]
Sources
6 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 2 tier 2, 2 not rated
- 1DOJ warns California officials over processing ballots by ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Exclusive-US Justice Department threatens California over alleged noncitizen voters, letter showsreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3DOJ says California officials who process ballots from suspected noncitizens risk prosecutionpbs.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 4Trump DOJ threatens California election officials with ...democracydocket.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5Trump administration threatens to prosecute local ...abcnews.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 6Justice Department orders California counties to set aside ...cnn.com · tier 2 · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- The Department of Justice requested that California election officials review a list of potential non-citizens within 48 hours and segregate the ballots of those whose citizenship cannot be confirmed.True
- The Justice Department sent letters to election officials in every state threatening them over non-citizen voting.True
- The Department of Justice is seeking to block up to 20,000 ballots from being counted in California due to concerns they may be from non-citizens.True
- The Justice Department is attempting to force California election officials to set aside ballots it claims were sent to 20,000 non-citizens.True
- Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent letters to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan demanding they verify the citizenship of voters flagged by the federal government.True