The Department of Justice (DOJ) official leading the Trump administration\u2019s assault on California\u2019s mail ballots manages the department\u2019s criminal investigations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The involvement of the official, R. Trent McCotter, who oversees criminal as well as civil litigation \u2014 along with another DOJ official who led a Florida office aimed at bringing criminal cases over illegal voting \u2014 highlights a troubling escalation in the department\u2019s voter suppression strategy. <\/p>\n
It shows DOJ is aiming to intimidate election officials by suggesting the California ballots issue is a criminal matter \u2014 something it made clear in a letter to the state sent late Friday. And it signals the department may be looking to lay the groundwork to obtain a criminal warrant to seize ballots \u2014 a concern raised this week in separate litigation.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, no one from the Civil Rights Division, which, as is typical, has led the department\u2019s voting cases so far, was listed on DOJ\u2019s complaint against California filed Thursday*.<\/p>\n
McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general, has emerged as one of the Trump administration\u2019s most prominent legal figures in its escalating intervention in the 2026 election. McCotter has spent years in the conservative legal movement, including work on Project 2025 and litigation tied to election denial, voter deception and efforts to challenge voting rules.<\/p>\n
Asked about McCotter\u2019s role in the lawsuit and about the absence of anyone from the Civil Rights Division on the complaint, DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels responded in a statement to \u00a0Democracy Docket:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a federal preemption case. The lawsuit doesn\u2019t implicate CRT\u2019s statutes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lawsuit claims that counting the ballots of the alleged noncitizens violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution,<\/a> citing the federal ban on noncitizen voting.<\/p>\n Still, in a letter<\/a> sent Friday to Los Angeles County, McCotter made the threat of criminal prosecution for election officials more explicit than ever.<\/p>\n In a letter<\/a> sent Friday to Los Angeles County, McCotter made the threat of criminal prosecution over the ballots issue more explicit than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n He warned election officials that they could risk becoming \u201caiders and abettors to a federal crime\u201d if they knowingly tabulate ballots cast by people on the government\u2019s list.<\/p>\n \u201cThe legal consequences for either facilitating or ignoring a federal crime are significant,\u201d McCotter wrote, arguing that state and local election officials were now on \u201cactual notice of noncitizen voting\u201d and warning them of \u201csignificant federal scrutiny and legal exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n The warning is particularly notable because DOJ\u2019s own lawsuit against California describes the people on its list as \u201clikely noncitizens,\u201d not people who have been conclusively determined to be ineligible to vote.<\/p>\n \u201cThey will all go to jail for a long period of time,\u201d President Donald Trump wrote on social media, promoting McCotter\u2019s letter.\u00a0<\/p>\n McCotter first signed Oct. 13 letters giving California officials just 48 hours<\/a> to act on a list of people the federal government said were \u201clikely noncitizens.\u201d His name then appeared atop DOJ\u2019s lawsuit<\/a> filed Thursday seeking to stop California from counting mail ballots from roughly 20,000 federally flagged voters.<\/p>\n In a separate federal case seeking records about possible DOJ plans to seize ballots or voting equipment during the midterms, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) pointed directly<\/a> to McCotter\u2019s role in the California case.<\/p>\n The DNC asserted Wednesday that because McCotter supervises the Criminal Division, his earlier threat of emergency action against California \u201cappears to be a plausible threat that DOJ will attempt to engage in warrant-based ballot seizure.\u201d<\/p>\n DOJ has not publicly revealed plans to seize ballots. The Criminal Division told the DNC it found no responsive records, while the FBI and DOJ leadership offices are still searching.<\/p>\n Civil election enforcement has traditionally been centered in DOJ\u2019s Civil Rights Division, whose Voting Section<\/a> enforces laws including the Voting Rights Act, National Voter Registration Act and Help America Vote Act.<\/p>\n But Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general who leads the Civil Rights Division, is not listed on the California complaint, although she has been listed on numerous voter roll cases brought by DOJ. Nor is any other official from the division.\u00a0<\/p>\n To be sure, as deputy attorney general, McCotter also manages \u201ccivil litigation under the direct responsibility of the Associate Attorney General,\u201d according to the department\u2019s website.\u00a0<\/p>\n Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward is not listed on the complaint brought against California, though Andrew Darlington, Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General, is listed.<\/p>\n But Darlington, too, has a background in criminal election cases. Before joining DOJ last year, he served as director of the Florida Office of Election Crimes and Security, which was created by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to bring prosecutions for alleged illegal voting.\u00a0<\/p>\n The lawsuit against California itself is civil, but its substantive theory relies heavily on criminal law. DOJ is seeking to use the federal prohibition on noncitizen voting, 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 611, to prevent California from counting the flagged ballots. McCotter\u2019s latest letter goes further by invoking the federal aiding-and-abetting statute, 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 2, directly against election officials.<\/p>\n McCotter, who briefly served in DOJ during Trump\u2019s first administration before moving into private practice and then returning, has personally participated in DOJ\u2019s broader campaign to intrude in state-run election administration.<\/p>\n In March, internal emails show him coordinating<\/a> a department-wide \u201celection integrity\u201d report with Civil Rights Division officials and saying he had \u201clooped in\u201d the division as the administration developed its election agenda.<\/p>\n He has also used criminal enforcement actions to promote the administration\u2019s broader voting agenda.<\/p>\n At a September press conference announcing<\/a> charges against a former Utah postal worker accused of discarding mail bags that included ballots along with other mail \u2014 conduct officials said was not politically motivated \u2014 McCotter quickly moved beyond the alleged crime.<\/p>\n He defended Trump\u2019s blocked mail-voting overhaul, criticized a federal judge who halted it, attacked states without photo-ID requirements and criticized automatic voter registration systems.<\/p>\n The episode offered an earlier example of McCotter using criminal election enforcement to advance the administration\u2019s policy fights over voting. His role in California now brings those two tracks even closer together: DOJ is pursuing a civil lawsuit while McCotter simultaneously warns the election officials being sued that their conduct could expose them to federal criminal liability.<\/p>\n Before returning to DOJ, McCotter built a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 deeply embedded in right-wing legal circles.<\/p>\n He is listed as a contributor<\/a> to the Heritage Foundation\u2019s Project 2025 \u201cMandate for Leadership.\u201d Records obtained by American Oversight show that a Heritage fellow recruited<\/a> McCotter in 2023 to help draft \u201cdetailed regulatory items\u201d for the project and told him that contributors who demonstrated commitment could gain recognition from people likely to influence personnel decisions in a future administration.<\/p>\n McCotter testified<\/a> before Congress last year in a hearing on birthright citizenship, arguing that Congress has the authority to confer citizenship by statute.<\/p>\n McCotter also represented<\/a> prominent 2020 election denier Steve Bannon in his Supreme Court bid to remain free while appealing his contempt-of-Congress conviction for refusing to comply with the House Jan. 6 committee. The Supreme Court denied Bannon\u2019s request in June 2024, and he reported to prison days later to serve a four-month sentence.<\/p>\n He also represented One America News in litigation brought by voting-technology company Smartmatic over the far-right outlet\u2019s false claims about the 2020 election. Court filings identify<\/a> McCotter as counsel for Herring Networks, OAN\u2019s parent company. The case ended in April 2024 with a confidential settlement and voluntary dismissal.<\/p>\n And McCotter appeared for America First Legal in litigation involving Douglass Mackey, the alt-right social-media influencer convicted<\/a> after posting deceptive 2016 election messages telling Hillary Clinton supporters \u2014 including messages aimed at Black and Spanish-speaking voters \u2014 that they could vote by text.<\/p>\n