Newsom and Trump-Appointed Prosecutor Trade Shots Over 20,000 Suspected Noncitizens on California Voter Rolls

A court filing in the Justice Department's California voter-roll lawsuit has set off a public fight between Gov. Gavin Newsom's office and a top federal prosecutor.

This is a new development in the case we covered when the DOJ filed it. The department asked a court to make California verify the citizenship of more than 20,000 registered voters federal officials believe are likely noncitizens, and to set aside their mail ballots until it does. Ballots went out Oct. 1.

The filing. Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for California's Central District, posted a declaration filed Tuesday by Monica Flores of the Los Angeles County registrar's office. She wrote that the office "is not equipped or authorized to verify voter citizenship because it does not independently house citizenship-related information beyond the voter attestation." Essayli called it a "massive concession" and wrote, "American citizens' votes are being diluted in California."

Newsom's reply. His press office said California follows a 1993 federal law under which people registering at the DMV swear under penalty of perjury that they are eligible, including that they are citizens. It told Essayli to "brush up on your election law" and suggested "Second Assistant" might suit him better. Essayli answered by citing two federal statutes that make it unlawful for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.

The county's other points. Flores said sorting out those ballots is now nearly impossible, because once a signature is verified, the ballot leaves its envelope and is mixed in with hundreds of thousands of others. The county had processed 331,000 ballots as of Tuesday. She also said the registrar is "not an investigative agency." Staff checked a sample of 200 records from the DOJ list with Los Angeles County addresses and called the list "unreliable." Of those 200, 112 were canceled or inactive, 38.9% of those with a recorded birthplace were born in the U.S., and 71.2% had no voting history.

The federal response. Essayli told Fox the county's numbers are "meaningless" because it admits it cannot verify citizenship or birthplace.

The charges. Fox notes the DOJ charged 28 lawful permanent residents from the list on Monday with false statements on naturalization applications and fraudulent voter registration. Officials said most of them cast unlawful ballots.

Caveats. The DOJ calls its USCIS cross-check "preliminary." No court has ruled on the 20,000 figure in what Fox reports.