President Trump’s Justice Department is reportedly looking into criminal charges against election officials, with a DOJ spokesperson confirming that the department “will leave no option off the table” in terms of keeping future elections free from interference of any kind.
For context, on July 2, 2025, the New York Times reported that Senior Justice Department officials were looking into the possibility of criminal charges for state and local election officials, with a Department of Justice spokesperson providing confirmation of this avenue being taken by the agency. The news of possible charges against election officials came just months after President Trump signed an executive order focused on “preserving and protecting the integrity” of U.S. elections.
Speaking to the New York Times, Dax Goldstein of the States United Democracy Center, a leftist organization, said, “The tactics we’re seeing out of D.O.J. right now are building on what we’ve seen from anti-democracy groups for years.” Continuing, Goldstein said the DOJ’s consideration of criminal charges against election officials was “rooted in the same lies about elections, and they’re all meant to create noise and fear and concerns about issues with our elections that just don’t exist.” He added, “Our elections are safe and secure, and election officials are working to keep them that way.”
Furthermore, Gates McGavick, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, told the New York Times that the DOJ “will leave no option off the table when it comes to promoting free, fair and secure elections.” The Times’ Devlin Barrett and Nick Corasaniti opined that the stance taken by the DOJ was “alarming,” adding that the Trump Administration has “repeatedly argued, without reliable evidence, that the 2020 election that President Trump lost was affected by mass voter fraud.”
Importantly, the news of possible indictments of election officials by the DOJ arrived several months after President Trump signed an executive order on March 25, 2025, calling for the preservation and protection of the integrity of American elections. In the order, President Trump wrote, “Free, fair, and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion are fundamental to maintaining our constitutional Republic.”
Continuing, the president said that it was the “right of American citizens” to “have their votes properly counted and tabulated, without illegal dilution,” adding that this process was “vital to determining the rightful winner of an election.” He went on, “Above all, elections must be honest and worthy of the public trust.”
In addition, President Trump made the case that in order to have secure elections, it would be necessary to make use of “voting methods that produce a voter-verifiable paper record allowing voters to efficiently check their votes to protect against fraud or mistake.” He added, “Election-integrity standards must be modified accordingly. It is the policy of my Administration to enforce Federal law and to protect the integrity of our election process.”
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Furthermore, in the order, the president called for Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “prevent all noncitizens from being involved in the administration of any federal election, including by accessing election equipment, ballots or any other relevant materials used in the conduct of any federal election.”
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