{"id":348630,"date":"2026-06-05T21:59:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/348630\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T21:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:59:07","slug":"multiple-election-fraud-investigations-underway-in-california-us-attorney-says-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/348630\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Multiple election fraud investigations\u2019 underway in California, US attorney says \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

A day after President Donald Trump alleged widespread cheating in California\u2019s primary<\/a>, a top prosecutor said the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI are conducting \u201cmultiple election fraud investigations\u201d in the state.<\/p>\n

Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney, did not provide any details or specifics of just what is being investigated, but said in a social media post<\/a>: \u201cWe will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the FBI\u2019s Los Angeles office would not confirm Essayli\u2019s post, but said \u201csuffice to say there are hundreds of fraud allegations in LA alone,\u201d later adding that was not specific to election-related cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will have to talk to the first assistant if you want to question his statement. The FBI does not comment on fraud allegations that come our way,\u201d said Laura Eimiller.<\/p>\n

Vote counting is still underway in California for the June 2 primary election.<\/p>\n

Here, every registered voter is mailed a ballot, and they have multiple ways to cast them: in person, at drop boxes or through the mail. Ballots returned via the U.S. Postal Service<\/a> are still counted so long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day and arrive at the county elections office within seven days.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not so much that vote counting takes a long time; it\u2019s the process, set by state law, which gives voters time to fix a signature challenge on mailed ballot envelopes. This year, that deadline is 5 p.m. on June 24 \u2014 and that means election officials cannot certify results at the county level until June 26.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccuracy comes before speed,\u201d Secretary of State Shirley Weber said after Trump\u2019s allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia is the nation\u2019s largest voting state, with millions of ballots to process and count. Taking the time to do this work correctly protects voters\u2019 rights and ensures the integrity of our elections,\u201d Weber said. \u201cCalifornia has built a strong system that expands access, empowers voters and ensures more Californians can fully participate in our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Protecting the integrity of California\u2019s elections is a top priority for my office.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s election system has serious structural vulnerabilities. Universal vote-by-mail with no voter ID requirements creates conditions where fraud can go undetected and unpunished, eroding\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) June 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Previous claims of widespread fraud in California\u2019s elections have not been substantiated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A federal prosecutor visited Los Angeles County\u2019s ballot processing center in Industry on Friday, June 5, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Central District of California confirmed. A spokesperson did not say whether this was a regularly scheduled visit or part of Essayli\u2019s fraud probe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was sent there by our office to observe the vote counting process,\u201d said Kyle Perez, a spokesperson for the office.<\/p>\n

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he had people on hand at the facility as well and is \u201cmonitoring the situation closely and stands ready to protect voters and ensure California\u2019s election laws are followed.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of midday Friday, Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page said his office had not been contacted by the Justice Department that a monitor would be popping by, and no one had identified themselves as a lawyer with the department. Elizabeth Florer, a Riverside County Registrar of Voters spokesperson, also said her office had not been visited by a Justice Department representative \u201cin the past two days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cProtecting the integrity of California\u2019s elections is a top priority for my office,\u201d Essayli said Friday. \u201cCalifornia\u2019s election system has serious structural vulnerabilities. Universal vote-by-mail with no voter ID requirements creates conditions where fraud can go undetected and unpunished, eroding public confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was also working with Harmeet Dhillon, a conservative lawyer from California<\/a> who has led the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division since April 2025, to conduct an audit of California\u2019s voter rolls.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy office will not look the other way. We will investigate and prosecute,\u201d said Essayli. \u201cEvery legal vote deserves to be counted. Every illegal vote cancels one out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justin Levitt, an election law expert who teaches at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, chalked up Essayli\u2019s announcement to a bunch of \u201cnoise\u201d that was made for \u201can audience of one,\u201d referring to Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not normal for the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office to announce investigations when there hasn\u2019t already been public awareness of wrongdoing,\u201d said Levitt, who worked for the Biden administration to \u201censure that every eligible American has secure, reliable access to a meaningful vote,\u201d among other things, according to his bio.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fine for the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office to conduct investigations; that happens all the time,\u201d Levitt said. \u201cBut you can\u2019t offer specifics. You don\u2019t have anything to go on, and the very fact that you\u2019re investigating is ominous, and the public expects, in normal times, when there is an investigation, there is a reason for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, this administration does not act like normal past administrations, and there are no details of the investigation because there is no misconduct,\u201d he added. \u201cI am profoundly confident there is no wrongdoing to investigate. These investigations will die off quietly. He has already achieved everything he set out to achieve, which is performing a little dance for the president.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those sentiments were echoed by the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\u201cCredible prosecutors don\u2019t comment on ongoing investigations, including whether an investigation exists at all \u2013 we\u2019re not surprised the First Assistant doesn\u2019t operate similarly,\u201d said Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n

Trump, earlier this week, railed against California elections in a series of posts, alleging \u201cbig cheating\u201d without citing evidence. Long a critic of California\u2019s elections and mail ballots, the president accused Democrats of \u201ctrying to steal\u201d gubernatorial and L.A. mayoral elections.<\/p>\n

\"InIn a series of late night posts to Truth Social, President Trump alleged California elections are rigged because the later vote counties are leaning more Democratic, cutting into Steve Hilton\u2019s lead for governor and Spencer Pratt\u2019s chance to make the LA mayoral runoff election. (Photos by AP)<\/p>\n

Republican and Trump-endorsed\u00a0Steve Hilton<\/a>\u00a0holds a lead in the race for governor, with Democrats\u00a0Xavier Becerra<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Tom Steyer<\/a>\u00a0still\u00a0battling it out for that coveted second spot<\/a>\u00a0to make the general election runoff.<\/p>\n

In the race for the mayor of L.A.<\/a>, reality television personality\u00a0Spencer Pratt<\/a>\u00a0was in second place behind incumbent\u00a0Karen Bass<\/a>, a former longtime Democratic member of Congress, according to the latest update of unofficial results. But progressive Councilmember Nithya Raman<\/a>\u00a0was getting\u00a0closer to that No. 2 spot<\/a>, the latest returns show, as more ballots are received and counted.<\/p>\n

Trump, in April,\u00a0endorsed Hilton in the race for governor<\/a>, choosing to back the former Fox News personality over Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.<\/p>\n

And ahead of the June 2 election,\u00a0Trump said<\/a>\u00a0he\u2019d like to see Pratt \u201cdo well\u201d in the mayoral contest.<\/p>\n

Even if both Hilton and Pratt advance to the November general election, their chances of winning then are slim. Nearly 45% of the 23.2 million registered voters in California are Democrats, and only 25% are Republicans.<\/p>\n

Still, Trump alleged that cheating was occurring. A White House spokesperson did not respond to requests for examples.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS,\u201d Trump\u00a0posted to Truth Social<\/a>\u00a0late Wednesday, June 3.<\/p>\n

And later Thursday morning,\u00a0the president said<\/a>: \u201cLook what\u2019s happening in California, the Dumocrats, right before our very eyes, are stealing the Vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Staff writers Linh Tat and Jeff Horseman contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A day after President Donald Trump alleged widespread cheating in California\u2019s primary, a top prosecutor said the U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1400,7,9,8,400,536,204,100,13,136,6392],"class_list":["post-348630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-2026-elections","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-politics","tag-donald-trump","tag-election","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-stories","tag-voters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}