The Department of Justice delivered a thumb drive containing 20,000 names to election officials.
Posted by The NPR Politics Podcast, Checked
- Sources
- 4 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 92%
The NPR Politics PodcastOct 26, 2026
Multiple tier1 and tier2 sources report that the DOJ delivered a password-protected thumb drive containing a list of about 20,000 names to Los Angeles County and California election officials. The claim matches the passage's wording, and the sources do not contradict it; officials refused to open the drive, but that does not change the delivery.
What was said
… This summer, you know, you have the president going on national TV saying there's hundreds of thousands of non-citizens, unequivocally, in just four states, and then that number keeps changing and now gets to the point where they deliver a thumb drive with 20,000 names on it, which is also a far departure from the hundreds of thousands that were promised just a few months ago, and so I think election officials look at this and just say, like, we don't know if we can trust you. …
The NPR Politics Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. AP reports the Justice Department cited a 48-hour deadline for California officials to review a password-protected thumb drive containing a list of 20,000 names.[1]
Supports. NPR reports the DOJ delivered a flash drive to the top voting official in Los Angeles County, and that it included the names of 20,000 people the federal government believes are likely noncitizens.[3]
Supports. The Hill reports the DOJ provided state and local election officials with a USB drive containing a list of 20,000 names flagged by DHS, along with a handwritten password.[4]
Supports. Reuters reports the DOJ warned California election officials about the 20,000 people on a list the administration says are probably noncitizens, days after giving California 48 hours to review it.[2]
Context. Several sources note that county officials initially declined to open the drive and that the state disputes the list's reliability, but these points concern what happened after delivery and do not contradict it.[5][6]
Sources
6 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 1 tier 2, 1 tier 1, 2 not rated
- 1Trump administration sues California over voter rolls | AP Newsapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Trump threatens California officials with imprisonment over stance on mail ballotsreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3DOJ sues California to block the counting of mail-in ballots from alleged noncitizensnpr.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 4California officials subpoenaed by DOJ over noncitizen voter claimsthehill.com · tier 1 · cited for: supports
- 5Absurd court farce on noncitizen ballots leaves Voter ID as the only ...yahoo.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 6Some on DOJ's 20000 "likely" noncitizen list in Calif. ...kpbs.org · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- 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
- The Department of Justice delivered a thumb drive to Los Angeles County containing the names of 20,000 people on California's voter rolls who the federal government says are likely non-citizens.True
- The Department of Justice provided the Los Angeles County Registrar's office with a password-protected thumb drive containing a list of names the federal government believes are likely non-citizens who were sent a vote-by-mail ballot.True
- The federal government sent a thumb drive to the California Secretary of State alleging that 20,000 people registered to vote in California are not citizens.Mixed
- The Department of Justice has provided the state of Washington with a list of names of non-citizens who have allegedly voted in elections.True