If you’ve ever thought that California Gov. Gavin Newsom couldn’t be any more smug and condescending, well, his latest move related to the midterm election and “election security” brought his levels of both to unprecedented heights.
Newsom and Rob Bonta, the Golden State’s Attorney General, have been all over social media trumpeting their courtroom wins against the Department of Justice this week, as both District Court Judge David O. Carter and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the DOJ’s bid for an emergency motion to prevent the processing of ballots returned by people on a 20,000-person list of “likely noncitizens” on the state’s voter rolls. Then, on Friday night, a Biden-appointed federal judge in Oakland issued an order directing the DOJ to not “threaten, intimidate or coerce state or local elections officials or workers” related to the processing of ballots returned by people on the list.
While Newsom and Bonta feel pretty confident that all of those ballots cast by noncitizens will indeed be counted, they’re not confident at all that there won’t be consequences for those election workers or the noncitizens who went ahead and voted illegally after the ballots are all counted, judging by a letter Newsom sent to four federal judges in California on Saturday.
The letter was addressed to the chief judge in each of the four federal districts in California to “alert [them] to the risk to election integrity of judges issuing a search warrant to seize ballots, election records, or certified voting technology while an election is underway and before the results are certified.”
Newsom signed a package of bills this legislative session to severely impair the ability of law enforcement officials to investigate election fraud, and claims that they’re to prevent “Trump’s election interference.” He knows, though, that he can’t keep the federal government from getting a search warrant to seize ballots, election records, etc., in connection with a criminal investigation.
California WILL protect our elections. I just signed legislation to make it A FELONY to illegally seize or interfere with ballots before elections are certified. When it comes to our elections, California is not messing around. https://t.co/pYC0E7gydQ
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) September 19, 2026
And while they won in Judge Carter’s court, Carter explicitly told the DOJ at the end of his order denying the TRO that their remedy is to indict individuals who they believe have committed a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. 611, as they have already started doing. In response to Carter’s invitation, grand jury subpoenas were sent Thursday night to multiple county registrars in the state, and additional indictments of individual voters were announced.
Which leads us to Newsom’s Saturday “alert.” Newsom first whines that federal prosecutors are threatening California elections officials.
Bilal Essayli, First Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California, has explicitly threatened via social media posts criminal prosecution against elections officials who process ballots that have been cast by individuals whom the United States asserts may be non-citizens.
Here’s what Essayli’s social media post actually said:
It’s simple. California does not verify citizenship status. We did the work for them. We obtained the registered voter list and told them who we believe are noncitizens on their rolls. Knowingly processing noncitizen ballots is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. §§ 611 and 2. We will hold election officials accountable. No one is above the law.
“Knowingly processing noncitizen ballots is a federal crime.” Advising people of what actions are criminal isn’t a threat.
He then hilariously claims that California not only *has* a chain of custody for ballots, but that it’s a “strict” chain of custody, so strict that the only reason law enforcement would want to seize ballots, etc., would be to interfere in the election:
California’s strict chain of custody, documentation, and retention laws related to ballots and ballot materials ensure any evidence of alleged wrongdoing tied to ballots or ballot materials is preserved and appropriately supervised by a court, so there is no legitimate law enforcement reason to seize ballots, ballot materials, and equipment needed to process and tabulate ballots. Indeed, the only reason to do so would be to interfere in a State’s lawful counting of ballots and certifying the results of the election.
As we’ve documented numerous times, there is no chain of custody for these mail ballots. Once they arrive in someone’s mailbox, or the wrong person’s mailbox, or along the side of a road somewhere, there’s no telling who touched them until they arrive back at the registrar’s office, or, in many cases, how they got there. Ballot harvesters don’t sign any attestation, and the voter can even sign their envelope with an “X.” Some chain of custody could be established for some ballots using the USPS’s barcode technology or “Track my ballot” sites, but it’s not in any way complete or useful for election integrity purposes.
The cherry-on-top is Newsom sending these chief judges a “resource” for evaluating search warrants. No, really. He did that. He went there.
Accordingly, I am enclosing a resource for evaluating search warrants for election materials, UC Berkeley Edley Center on Law & Democracy, Questions for Assessing A Search Warrant for Election Materials (September 2026), which may be of interest and assistance to all Magistrate Judges and District Judges who may consider warrant applications between now and when California’s election results are certified by December 11, 2026.
Oh, and of course, he claims that UC Berkeley’s resource is nonpartisan.
As a special bonus, enjoy this video of then-Assemblyman Bill Essayli schooling Democrat Dave Min, who now represents Orange County in Congress, on the issue of illegal aliens being registered to vote in California.
Here is: Former California State Representative Bill Essayli, and current United States Attorney for the Central District of California, confirms beyond the shadow of a doubt that @CAgovernor is a pathological liar. Gavin Newsom lets illegal aliens register to vote through the California website and at the DMV: “This idea that you’re not allowed to register to vote unless you present some sort of identification is not accurate. It’s not true.” Based on audits, Gavin Newsom registers illegal aliens to vote. And yes, it is a felony for a non-citizennto to vote in a federal or state election in California. 📝 Precisely why Democrats rush to give illegals driver’s licenses.
— 🇺🇸RealRobert🇺🇸 (@Real_RobN) August 15, 2025
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