DOJ threatens California election officials with criminal prosecutions

Well, with less than three weeks until Election Day, California and the Trump administration are clashing over new claims that 20,000 people who may not be citizens are registered to vote and received mail-in ballots. California Politics 360 host Ashley Zavala joining us live this afternoon. And Ashley, you have some new details on the latest in this battle over non-citizen voters on the state voter rolls here in California. That's right. We're hearing the Associated Press actually is exclusively reporting that they've obtained a letter really showing that the U.S. Department of Justice is ramping up this fight with a warning to California election officials and elections officials in Los Angeles County that if they process the ballots of the 20,000, they say, non-citizen voters, if their ballots are processed, that there will be criminal prosecutions and threatening, again, even more legal action on top of the legal action that is underway on this situation. Now, this clash ultimately comes down to the state of California, which is noting that states have, per the Constitution, the right and the power to administer its elections and handle that. But you also have the federal government claiming to have credible evidence showing that apparently 20,000 people on California's voter rolls are non-citizens. Now, on the show this week, We hear from U.S. Attorney Bill Staley. He's the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. He's within the Trump administration. He's very much at the forefront of a lot of these fights. He explains how they reached this conclusion on the 20,000 noncitizens. And just front, I can tell you that he's noting that these are people who have been doing the right thing, going through the process. but whom the Department of Justice has identified as people who are also matched with federal ID numbers and have federal data indicating that they are not citizens of the United States. On the other hand, we hear from California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who notes that other states have proven the federal government wrong in this space. We talk about all of it and where we go from here when we are just weeks out from an election. Yeah, a whole lot to sort out and the legal fights just just ramping up, really, as we head toward Election Day. So I know, Ashley, ahead of the general election here in November, you're sitting down with a number of the candidates who are running for statewide office in California. And this week you had the chance to talk with state controller Malia Cohen. What is her plan and what does she hope to address in a second term if she's reelected? Yeah, Malia Cohen faces a lot of questions as the Democratic incumbent, including, you know, at what point has she stood up to the Democratic leaders of the state legislature and governor? Because in this moment of everyone focusing on waste, fraud and abuse, her office should really be at the center of it. She has auditing power. She's a separate constitutional office that controls the state payroll, that looks at the state's expenses, and ultimately is the one writing the checks when the state leaders essentially agree on how to spend that money. So she made some campaign promises in 2022, including an audit of the homelessness spending in California, an audit of the EDD. Her office ended up not doing those. She explains on the show why exactly. And also, she tries to explain when she has stood up to Democratic leaders. We get into her plans for the office and why she thinks she deserves another four years and why she says she'll do more speaking out in the coming years about our financial situation here in California. Okay, looking forward to that conversation and the rest of the show coming up this weekend. That is Ashley Zavala, host of California Politics 360. Ashley, we appreciate it. Have a nice weekend. And we want And a reminder, you can watch the full episode of California Politics 360 Sunday nights at 1130 right here on KTVU.