A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop engaging in a “campaign to intimidate, threaten, and coerce” election officials ahead of the U.S. midterms.
“In the lead-up to the election, high-ranking DOJ and DHS officials have engaged in a campaign to intimidate, threaten, and coerce state and local officials and employees who are engaged in administering the ongoing midterm 2026 election,” U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson ruled on Friday.
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Naturally, by Sunday the Trump DOJ had already filed an appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California, because how can they have an election of fear, intimidation, and gaslighting if they are not allowed to threaten election officials?
The Trump DOJ seems to seek to be able to halt the processing of ballots of registered voters based solely on their unproven allegations. The DOJ’s track record with false, unproven allegations against voters took a nosedive from sketchy to laughable in the last week.
They are appealing the ruling that prohibits any action that may “threaten, intimidate or coerce state or local elections officials or workers to demand that they halt processing the ballots of any registered voter solely on the basis that the ballot belongs to an individual alleged by [the administration] to be ineligible to vote.”
Trump’s DOJ is now acting as his personal lawyers in a manner on par with the dishonorable and disbarred behavior of many of his personal lawyers who falsely claimed he had won the 2020 election.
Trump’s DOJ sent letters to 57 of California’s 58 counties threatening officials that if they don’t go along with the DOJ’s scheme to disenfranchise voters without cause, they could face investigations themselves.
Trump’s DOJ has been harassing California so much that California Governor Gavin Newsom sent letters to four U.S. District Court judges warning them that the Trump administration may try to seize ballots cast in the midterm election.
“I have grave concerns federal agents will seek search warrants to seize ballots and ballot materials before the election results are certified,” Newsom wrote.
The Trump DOJ is trying to get over 20,000 voters basically thrown off the voter rolls without due process or cause. An analysis showed that more than 40% of names on DOJ list of alleged noncitizens were not even on California’s voter rolls, and *71.2% had never voted in previous elections.
In response, the Trump administration shared complete data making its case.
In response, the Trump DOJ “objected to sharing the list, calling it a ‘fishing expedition’.”
A fishing expedition started by whom? The Trump DOJ. So they won’t share the details of the people they’re disenfranchising based on their word, but they shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
So the Trump DOJ was ordered to disclose the 20,000-person list.
Giving Four Seasons Total Landscaping levels of competence, data experts said the file they received was created Oct. 30, which is the very day DOJ turned it over, but the original list sent to California officials had been produced weeks earlier.
Oopsie.
The list is also missing the data they were ordered to produce.