DOJ Election Interference Turns Into Raw Thuggery

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

A Perilous Moment

I have the same mix of feelings that I did in the days leading up to Jan. 6, 2021: a queasy feeling that things are about to spiral out of control along with the recognition that it could end up just being a clown show.

The Justice Department’s corrupt, heavy-handed, intimidation tactics of issuing grand jury subpoenas to election officials in California while launching a wave of new election-related subpoenas in Alaska is a level of thuggery we haven’t seen before and a grave threat.

The only more direct and dramatic interference in free and fair elections would be blocking voter access to the polls, seizing ballots, and refusing to abide by the results of the election. Stay tuned, I guess?

And yet there remains an unmistakable clownish quality to the whole endeavor, such as Attorney General Todd Blanche personally charging four misdemeanor cases in Nevada for alleged noncitizen voting, presumably because the top federal prosecutor in the state is implicated in the Trump U.S. attorney scheme and was disqualified.

It is, as always, both/and.

Trump DOJ Ignores Judges Warning

In California, the Trump DOJ reportedly made the decision to target election officials themselves with a new round of grand jury subpoenas, Bloomberg reports:

Justice Department leadership directed top federal prosecutors in California to pursue criminal subpoenas of state and local officials regarding their roles administering allegedly illegal voting, according to two people familiar with the situation.

This is different from earlier grand jury subpoenas in recent weeks that were directed at obtaining voting records to prosecute alleged noncitizen voting. The new subpoenas are going directly to election officials who are in the midst of counting votes and managing an election.

The new subpoenas aren’t limited just to Los Angeles County: “All four U.S. attorneys in California were issuing subpoenas, according to a person familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation,” the AP reported.

The subpoenas come after acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent letters to election officials in every California county earlier this month warning that they faced potential criminal prosecution for counting the ballots of alleged noncitizen voters — an unprecedented interpretation of federal criminal law.

Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, echoed those threats in court this week.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter warned from the bench Tuesday that DOJ’s threats against election officials needed to “cease immediately.”

In his order rejecting the Trump DOJ’s request that he order Los Angeles County to segregate and not yet count alleged mail-in ballots from alleged noncitizen voters, Judge Carter warned DOJ again: “The court reiterates what it said yesterday: these threats must stop.”

The next day came with word of the new round of subpoenas.

Conflicting Reports on Timing of Subpoenas

Not all of the reporting is consistent as to when subpoenas were issued and served. But it appears that some subpoenas of election workers went out as early as last week.

“At least two employees of Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office received grand jury subpoenas last week for a proceeding scheduled for Nov. 4, on the morning after the election,” the NYT reported.

Three subpoenas to employees of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder were sent Oct. 21 and 24, according to the AP, which obtained copies of them:

The subpoenas request any documents and communications related to letters sent in July and October by federal officials to state election officials outlining allegations of noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls. … They also seek any information about efforts to prevent noncitizen votes from being counted.

Those subpoenas predate the new wave of subpoenas that reportedly began yesterday in all four federal district in California.

Again, the focus of these latest subpoenas is different than a separate batch of prior subpoenas that focused on getting voting records in order to prosecute individual voters for allegedly being noncitizens. One such subpoena was received by Orange County election officials yesterday, adding to the confusion.

The Intimidation Factor

Grand jury subpoenas days before the election is intimidation enough, but there was at least one extra twist: “Federal marshals served one county employee at home, despite having already served that employee at the registrar’s office and issuing a notification of counsel, according to officials familiar with the incident,” the NYT reports.

“Threats and intimidation have no place in elections,” said Dean Logan, the top election official in Los Angeles County.

Wave of Subpoenas in Alaska

Further seizing on the NYT report that tied the candidacy of the other Dan Sullivan to the Senate campaign of Mary Peltola, the Trump DOJ issued a wave of new subpoenas ostensibly to investigate what it claims is a conspiracy to deceive voters — but which is in reality a last-ditch effort to save a key incumbent Republican senator.

“Federal prosecutors issued more than 40 grand jury subpoenas and record preservation notices to key targets by [Wednesday] evening, one of the officials said,” according to CNN, which reported that additional subpoenas were expected yesterday.

There had already been a quiet federal investigation of the Sullivan candidacy before the NYT story, with some grand jury subpoenas issued and witnesses interviewed, CNN reported:

The investigation had already roiled the US Attorney’s office in Alaska, one of the officials said, where some career prosecutors have balked at aspects of the probe and whether the effort broke federal law or simply represents electioneering dirty tricks. 

It seems clear now that the NYT report embarrassed officials at Main Justice since the newspaper story went farther than its own investigation had.

In a move I’ve never seen before, the Alaska U.S. attorney Michael Heyman “un-recused” himself from the case after the NYT report at the urging of Main Justice, CNN reported. Heyman had previously recused himself early in the probe because he was in discussions with Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski about being nominated for a federal judgeship.

The prosecutor-in-chief made clear his intentions soon after the NYT story broke: “I think they should be prosecuted,” President Trump said. “To me, that’s voter fraud at the highest level.”

Trump: Why Is MY Beak Dry?!?

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