The US attorney says the FBI and federal prosecutors are investigating allegations of election fraud in California
First Assistant US Atty. Bill Essayli said Friday morning that his office has “a number of ongoing election fraud investigations,” in cooperation with the FBI in Los Angeles.
Essayli’s comments, posted on X, appear to be in response to President Trump saying on his social media late Wednesday that California Democrats “cheated” in the state’s primary election, and that there is an ongoing investigation into Essayli’s office.
Essayli’s office also confirmed that one of its prosecutors – Assistant US Atty. Robert Renner – was at the Los Angeles County vote processing center on Friday “to observe the vote counting process.”
Democratic officials strongly rejected Trump’s allegations of fraud, which they had warned he would make before the election given his long record of opposition and claims of fraud in the election he and his party lost.
Trump offered no evidence for his claims, other than complaining that California is taking too long to count ballots and criticizing its vote-by-mail system, suggesting it is a source of fraud. California officials acknowledged the process was taking longer than they would have liked, but said that was the result of careful, accurate counting of millions of ballots, many of which were cast on election day.
“Taking the time to do this job properly protects voters’ rights and ensures the integrity of our elections,” California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said Thursday. “California has built a strong system that expands access, empowers voters, and ensures that more Californians can fully participate in our democracy.”
Essayli — who is loyal to the Trump administration ended up running one of the nation’s top prosecutors’ offices through a legal loophole, and though he failed to be confirmed by the Senate — also provided few details in his Friday post, saying he would not comment on “any specific investigation.”
He said protecting California’s elections is “a top priority” for his office, and that “California’s election system is at serious structural risk.”
He said California’s vote-by-mail system, which most voters in the state rely on, and voter ID requirements — he said they don’t exist, but California has ways to verify that voters are who they say they are, including signature verification — create “situations where fraud can go undetected and go unpunished, eroding public confidence.”
“We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violation of federal election law to the fullest extent,” Essayli said.
He also noted that his office is cooperating with Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, to “conduct a comprehensive audit of California’s voter numbers.”
The Justice Department sued the state over its voter rolls, in a lawsuit dismissed by a federal judge who called the request “unprecedented and illegal” and accused the federal government of trying to “limit the right of many Americans to vote.”
The Justice Department appealed the decision, and the case is now before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“The state has made every effort to ensure that only eligible US citizens are registered to vote,” Essayli wrote. “My office will not look the other way. We will investigate and prosecute. Every legal vote must be counted. Every illegal vote is one count.”
Essayli’s office did not provide further details about Renner’s presence at the county polling station.
Dean Logan, head of the LA County clerk’s office, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
California Atty. The office of Gen. Rob Bonta is also involved in monitoring the state’s voting process, including during last year’s vote on Proposition 50. Bonta’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
