AG Rob Bonta says Election Day was uneventful for monitors | California Politics 360
Joining us now is California Attorney General Rob Banta. Mr. Banta, thank you so much and welcome back to California Politics 360. Thanks for having me, Ashley. Nice to see you. Good to see you, Mr. Attorney General. First, I just want to start with the election monitors, the Trump administration dispatched some here and then you yourself said that the state would have its own monitors. Did, did anything shake out from that or were there pretty much nothing to report at this point? Uh, the good news is that in the end, with our observers there on site, where their election monitors were no major incidents, um, uneventful for the most part. So that was good news. Uh, who knows the reason why, whether it was deterrents and you know, our president. We’re not, but we had to be sure that these monitors were going to stay in their lane, and from what we can tell, up to now, they did, and they have. We don’t know what they’re, what they might do next, and we won’t speculate on that, but pretty uneventful overall, and we were grateful to have our observers on site. The president, um, I mean, as polls were opening in California, said that this election was essentially *** scam. I saw earlier this week in Politico you essentially said that you were worried that he might wield his power to manipulate the 2026 elections. I mean, can you expand further upon that? Sure, you know, it’s very disturbing and dangerous to see statements like that. Uh, they, they seem like rants and and and ramblings and Um, just unhinged statements, but they have meaning and, and, and consequence, potentially at least to him and what they might do at the USDOJ, and there’s no basis for it. *** statement like that is completely untethered from the facts, from the law. California’s elections are safe, secure, they’re reliable, they’re accurate. And for him to promote *** conspiracy theory, *** lie, using the bully pulpit that he has. is very dangerous and it could be *** harbinger, an indicator of what might come. And if that’s what he thinks, if that’s uh his uh reality, even though it’s not the actual reality at all, it might mean that he’ll act on it and try to do something. Um, to interfere with our elections, and that’s what we want to guard against. Voters here in California deserve to have their vote counted to be part of an accurate election and to be part of the final count, not to be interfered with by, you know, unfortunately here, the President of the United States. That’s this is someone who tried to get additional votes in the 2020 election from the Secretary. State of Georgia. He was found by *** court and by an oversight committee to have interfered with the the counting of the final vote on January 6th and interfered with *** lawful voting outcome. He has issued unlawful executive orders that we’ve had to go to court to have struck down that undermined the right to vote. Um, and he’s weaponized parts of government, including the United States DOJ to go after his political enemies. So he has shown that the willingness, the intent, the desire, and the capacity to interfere with free and fair elections, and we cannot be naive about that. We have to be clear-eyed and sober. So what might he do? I mean, It’s all the possibilities, you know, we’re definitely thinking them all through and preparing for any possibility, but some that that that come to mind include having military, National Guard at polling sites. That that’s illegal. You can’t have people with arms or weapons at polling sites. That’s federal law. It’s not even state law. He, he feels that vote by mail is wrong. He’s tried to end it because Vladimir Putin told him. And so the United States Postal Service is part of the federal government. I’m not sure what they might do to try to impact vote by mail by misusing, manipulating, abusing the United States Postal Service. Who knows what else they might do? voter intimidation, voter suppression, promoting lies, conspiracy theories as as he is doing with the post you just read. There’s *** whole range of possibilities. So, um, our goal is to be ready, prepared for any of the scenarios, and, um, we are. All right, Mr. Attorney General, we thank you for your time. Thanks, Ashley. Thank you for yours.
AG Rob Bonta says Election Day was uneventful for monitors | California Politics 360
Updated: 8:28 AM PST Nov 9, 2025
California Attorney General Rob Bonta confirmed Election Day was uneventful after President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice sent elections monitors to five counties in California. Bonta had said California would have its own monitors keeping an eye on the federal monitors. “The good news is that in the end, with our observers there on site, where their election monitors were, no major incidents, uneventful for the most part,” Bonta said on California Politics 360. “Who knows the reason why, whether it was deterrence and our presence or not. But we had to be sure that these monitors were going to stay in their lane.” Bonta warned President Trump may use his power to manipulate the 2026 elections. Trump posted on Truth Social on Election Day that Prop 50 was a “scam.” “California’s elections are safe, secure. They’re reliable, they’re accurate,” Bonta said. “For him to promote a conspiracy theory, a lie, using the bully pulpit that he has is very dangerous. It could be a harbinger, an indicator of what might come. And if that’s what he thinks, if that’s his reality, even though it’s not the actual reality at all, it might mean that he’ll act on it and, try to do something, to interfere with our elections.” Bonta said that could include deploying military to polling sites or taking action with the U.S. Postal Service that could impact vote by mail ballots. “Our goal is to be ready and prepared for any of the scenarios,” Bonta said. Watch the full interview in the video above.KCRA 3 Political Director Ashley Zavala reports in-depth coverage of top California politics and policy issues. She is also the host of “California Politics 360.” Get informed each Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on KCRA 3.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
California Attorney General Rob Bonta confirmed Election Day was uneventful after President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice sent elections monitors to five counties in California.
Bonta had said California would have its own monitors keeping an eye on the federal monitors.
“The good news is that in the end, with our observers there on site, where their election monitors were, no major incidents, uneventful for the most part,” Bonta said on California Politics 360. “Who knows the reason why, whether it was deterrence and our presence or not. But we had to be sure that these monitors were going to stay in their lane.”
Bonta warned President Trump may use his power to manipulate the 2026 elections. Trump posted on Truth Social on Election Day that Prop 50 was a “scam.”
“California’s elections are safe, secure. They’re reliable, they’re accurate,” Bonta said. “For him to promote a conspiracy theory, a lie, using the bully pulpit that he has is very dangerous. It could be a harbinger, an indicator of what might come. And if that’s what he thinks, if that’s his reality, even though it’s not the actual reality at all, it might mean that he’ll act on it and, try to do something, to interfere with our elections.”
Bonta said that could include deploying military to polling sites or taking action with the U.S. Postal Service that could impact vote by mail ballots.
“Our goal is to be ready and prepared for any of the scenarios,” Bonta said.
Watch the full interview in the video above.
KCRA 3 Political Director Ashley Zavala reports in-depth coverage of top California politics and policy issues. She is also the host of “California Politics 360.” Get informed each Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on KCRA 3.