First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said federal prosecutors in California expect to bring election fraud charges after key results are certified, while urging witnesses with direct evidence to contact investigators.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Federal election fraud charges are expected in California within the next one to two months, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said during a Monday interview on Glenn Beck’s program.
Essayli said prosecutors are waiting for certain election results to be certified before moving forward, explaining that certification is needed to help prove allegations in court.
“It will be election fraud charges in the next, I hate to put timelines on things, one to two months, I believe,” Essayli said. “We need some of these results to be certified so we can prove some of the allegations. But we will be charging some people.”
When Beck asked whether prosecutors had enough evidence to proceed, Essayli said investigators are building cases carefully and want direct witness accounts before making public accusations.
“I will just say it will be election fraud charges in the next — I hate to put timelines on things, but 1 to 2 months, I believe,” Essayli said. “We need some of these results to be certified so we can, you know, prove some of the allegations. But we will be charging some people. I can’t get in too much. And mostly, Glenn, I mean, it’s not just DOJ rules, but we also wanna protect innocent people.”
Essayli said prosecutors want to avoid publicly tainting people who have not been charged or proven guilty.
“If we get something wrong, we don’t want someone to be tainted with the stain of an investigation until we’re able to prove that in court,” Essayli said. “So I can’t get into too much, but just know that this, at this point right now, we are wide open for investigations. If anyone knows anything direct, and then please direct evidence.”
He said prosecutors are not looking for speculation, but for witnesses who personally saw misconduct or were directly affected.
“I know people have theories and they have ideas,” Essayli said. “And what we need right now are witnesses. If you’ve witnessed anything, if someone voted in your name and you found out someone voted for you, we want to know about that.”
“If you saw someone collecting ballots in a suspicious way or doing something odd with ballots, we want to know about that,” he added. “Those are the kind of things we need direct evidence of right now so we can launch into deeper investigations.”
A clip of the interview was shared in an X post.
Essayli’s comments came days after he announced that his office, working with FBI Los Angeles, has multiple election fraud investigations underway. He also said federal officials are conducting a comprehensive audit of California’s voter rolls in coordination with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.
Essayli recently observed ballot processing at the Los Angeles County election center amid concerns over the June 2 primary results, including the Los Angeles mayoral race. The concerns intensified after a late ballot count reportedly delivered thousands of votes to Karen Bass and Nithya Raman while giving zero votes in that batch to conservative frontrunner Spencer Pratt.
The Los Angeles Times called the issue a “glitch.” Essayli set up a dedicated public tip line for election fraud information at the Justice Department.
The allegations come as California’s election system faces renewed criticism from conservatives over universal mail-in voting, voter identification rules and access to voter rolls. Critics say the state allows weak forms of identification, including gym membership cards, insurance cards and prescription labels, and has resisted federal efforts to review its voter registration lists.
The state’s dispute with federal officials over access to voter rolls is now before the Ninth Circuit.
Essayli said investigators are seeking concrete evidence from people with direct knowledge of possible fraud, including cases involving someone voting in another person’s name or suspicious ballot collection.
The expected charges, if filed, would mark a major development in federal scrutiny of California election practices after a contentious primary season and growing disputes over ballot counting, mail-in voting and voter roll transparency.
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