Full Interview — First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli on DOJ's election investigation

[0:00] First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Saley, thank you so much for making time for us. [0:04] Absolutely. Thanks for having me. [0:05] So you said earlier this week you opened voter fraud investigations. [0:10] What's the status of those right now? [0:12] So there's a few things going on. [0:15] One thing is, you know, there's a lot of talk in the media that there's no evidence of voter fraud. [0:19] So we just wanted to be very clear about that, that there is evidence. [0:22] And in fact, we charged the case just last month of an individual who was paying homeless people [0:28] to register to vote with fictitious information. [0:31] So that's not a theory. [0:33] There is evidence of voter fraud. [0:36] And what I've said is that we have other similar multiple investigations that are ongoing. [0:42] Under longstanding DOJ rules, we can't discuss the specifics of any investigation, [0:47] but they are ongoing. [0:48] And I do believe they will result in criminal charges in the near future. [0:52] Okay. Are you able to say if, like, any one governmental, like, state or local agency [1:00] is under investigation by your office? [1:02] So we don't ever discuss who's under investigation or what the nature of the investigation is. [1:08] And that's to protect mainly innocent people in case we don't end up charging them, [1:12] but also the integrity of the investigation. [1:14] What I have said is we will follow the evidence wherever it goes. [1:18] And we have various investigations at various stages. [1:21] So some of them are more developed and they're ready to charge. [1:24] Others are brand new and being worked up. [1:27] And we are getting tips every day from the public of potential leads of new cases. [1:32] So there's a lot of things going on. [1:34] It is not just one case. [1:36] There are multiple cases. [1:37] I think sort of the question you're getting to, Ashley, and a lot of reporters will ask is, [1:41] is this widespread fraud? [1:43] How spread is it? [1:44] And I think that's really the question we're trying to answer. [1:47] I don't have an answer for that because those require intense investigations. [1:52] And so what I can say right now is, is there evidence of fraud? [1:57] Yes, there are. [1:58] Are they just multiple isolated incidences? [2:01] Or is there some bigger connection to the two? [2:04] That's under investigation. [2:06] And we're going to get to the bottom of that. [2:07] But I just, what I don't understand is the resistance from leaders, elected officials, [2:12] and the media to resist looking into these claims. [2:16] And so we're not prejudging anything. [2:18] We're not, we're not concluding anything. [2:21] All I've said is our office is taking this seriously. [2:23] We'll follow the evidence wherever it goes. [2:25] There are investigations. [2:27] They will result in charges. [2:29] And we'd like to get to the bottom of how widespread this goes. [2:32] And, you know, that's also why we're calling for an audit. [2:36] I think the audit is the best way to reassure the public that there isn't widespread fraud. [2:43] And that's something that we've demanded the state of California comply with. [2:46] But so far they've resisted. [2:47] And I want to actually talk about that audit in a second. [2:50] But just to circle back, I know you mentioned the media. [2:54] People are pointing out that there is no proof of fraud. [2:58] I mean, a lot of that is related to the president's comments about this election. [3:03] He's claiming it's rigged. [3:04] And I know your office, again, is making clear that you're investigating. [3:08] But have you been talking with the president? [3:10] Like, where is he getting the idea that it could be rigged? [3:13] I mean, you'll have to ask the White House about that. [3:15] I mean, I think what the president is saying is he's frustrated. [3:18] And I think a lot of us were as a former legislator in Sacramento. [3:22] You know, rigged doesn't necessarily have to mean illegal. [3:25] I mean, when you talk about the way California conducts elections, [3:28] most people would consider that highly suspicious. [3:30] The fact that they don't check citizenship status when you register to vote. [3:35] The fact that you can register to vote with a gym membership card. [3:39] A lot of people think that's suspicious. [3:41] The fact that California does universal vote by mail. [3:44] So everyone gets a ballot in the mail, whether you're dead or alive, whether you want one or you don't. [3:49] That's suspicious. [3:50] The fact that California allows unregulated ballot harvesting, meaning anyone can go handle and solicit [3:58] people's ballots and there's no chain of custody. [4:01] That's suspicious. [4:02] And that's actually something that's outlawed in a lot of states. [4:04] And then on top of that, we have no voter ID. [4:06] So I think, you know, the president, when he says rigged, you know, people are thinking like, you know, quote unquote fraud. [4:13] But I think he's referring to just the entire system as a whole breeds suspicion. [4:18] And it's not one that promotes the idea that we have integrity in our elections. [4:22] OK, so so back to the audit that you're trying to do on on the voter rolls. [4:26] Is that a statewide audit? [4:28] Were you seeking specific jurisdictions? [4:31] What what can you tell us about that? [4:33] Yeah, so this is something that we've been litigating for the better part of the last year. [4:36] Harmeet Dillon, who's the head of our civil rights section in our office, [4:41] has been trying to audit the state voter rolls for the state of California. [4:45] There are various civil rights statutes, including HAVA and NVRA, [4:49] that give the attorney general the authority to request the voter rolls to confirm compliance with federal law. [4:55] Federal law requires the state of California to make sure only citizens are registered to vote. [5:01] And so we want to do the audit to confirm compliance. [5:05] This is a civil statute. [5:07] So we have to go through the civil court process. [5:10] We've sued California for refusing to comply with that audit. [5:15] We're in court litigating that it's up on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. [5:19] That is ongoing. [5:20] We're hoping for a ruling soon and we'll we'll continue litigating that. [5:23] But I just I don't understand why California would not want to reassure the public [5:29] that there is nothing nefarious. [5:30] There is nothing suspicious with their voter rolls. [5:34] An audit and transparency is the best way to reassure voters [5:38] that they should have confidence in the California's election systems. [5:42] Who in our state's government like blocked that specifically? [5:45] Who when you initially reached out to try to do this, who said no? [5:48] The secretary of state, Shirley Weber and the attorney general [5:52] indicated that there were some letters that I published of our communications back and forth. [5:58] And they basically asserted that they were not going to comply under state privacy laws, [6:04] that they were not going to provide voter roll information to the federal federal government. [6:08] We had a couple exchanges before we went to court. [6:11] And and I guess that would be the attorney general who's litigating this on behalf of [6:15] the secretary of state. [6:16] And and I know you've told other media outlets this, [6:19] but you you have proof that there are there are questionable aspects about the rolls. [6:24] Oh, I mean, I think the proof is all over. [6:26] Just go just go look online on people who say that they have dead relatives who are receiving ballots. [6:32] They you have family members who say people have moved out of state continue to receive ballots. [6:38] There's all kinds of issues with the voter rolls not being maintained. [6:42] And so I think it's no question that California's voter rolls are absolutely filthy, dirty. [6:48] They're not clean. They haven't been maintained. [6:50] And we have questions about who's on the voter rolls and particularly whether [6:54] any noncitizens are on those voter rolls. [6:56] We know the DMV admitted a few years ago. [6:59] Ashley, I know you know this. [7:00] You've covered Sacramento while DMV admitted, I think, [7:03] you know, four or five years ago that they accidentally registered, I think, [7:06] 20 or 30,000 noncitizens to vote. [7:09] And so, again, this isn't like a theory. [7:11] This is this is reality. [7:13] And, you know, California is just hoping that people ignore it, [7:17] I guess, forget about it and and move on. [7:19] But people want answers. [7:20] And, you know, regardless of the outcome of the election, [7:23] I don't care about the outcome of the election. [7:25] We just want to make sure that the federal laws are being followed. [7:28] And I would hope that California would want that, too, [7:30] because it doesn't matter who wins. [7:32] The public should have confidence that they're legitimate winners of the election. [7:36] In the same vein, and apologies if I'm going back into this investigation, [7:40] but I know there's a video from Skid Row that has been concerning a lot of folks online. [7:47] People who appear to be unhoused are saying that groups approach them or someone approached them to, [7:53] you know, encourage them to vote for someone, you know, and had their ballots dealt with that way. [7:58] Is that something your office can and is investigating at this point? [8:02] Yeah, we've seen those videos. [8:04] They've been referred to us. [8:05] And that's something we're going to take a look at. [8:06] I mean, we're going to look at everything that people provide. [8:09] And I've said we, you know, we don't have a predetermined outcome of any case. [8:13] What I will just say is we're going to follow the evidence wherever it goes. [8:18] And some cases are more developed. [8:20] That's why I'm confident in saying that I believe some of them will result in criminal charges. [8:25] And then some of our investigations are still at the early stage. [8:28] And so there's a lot of things happening at once. [8:31] But this is an important issue. [8:33] It's something people care about. [8:34] And I think the public deserves to know if there is fraud and how much fraud is in their system. [8:39] And I wish, much like healthcare fraud or hospice fraud, I wish California would work with us [8:45] to try to root out these fraudsters and to prevent the fraud from occurring in the first place. [8:50] But for whatever reason, I don't know if it's just their TDS or their, you know, [8:54] obsession with President Trump, they just are unable to work with us. [8:58] They want to fight us at every battle, every corner, instead of working with us [9:04] to improve the lives and the financial stability of the people of California. [9:09] I know you had a couple of ideas and lists of things that the state could do better [9:14] in terms of its elections to give people more confidence. [9:16] I mean, you were the vice chairman of the Assembly's Elections Committee [9:20] when you were in the state legislature. [9:22] Is there anything else, though, that you think could help? [9:24] Like, could counties use more resources? [9:26] I mean, do you have any insight being down there now that you think could help [9:30] restore confidence broadly in our elections? [9:33] Well, you know, I think something the Trump administration has been pushing for [9:37] is the voter ID requirement. [9:38] There's a bill, I believe, that's being debated in Congress as we speak. [9:44] I believe there's a ballot initiative that the voters are going to vote on. [9:47] I think a lot of states have voter ID and citizenship requirements. [9:50] And I think that would go a long way in preserving the integrity and trust in the system. [9:57] You know, I think mail ballots are unfortunately, you know, they're here to stay. [10:01] I think people generally like them. [10:02] But we can work within the system to at least give people confidence that [10:07] even when we're voting by mail, that it's a secure system. [10:11] And so there are some proposals. [10:13] You know, we've got to leave that up to the people of California, [10:15] how they want to move forward. [10:16] But voter ID is a huge one. [10:18] Cleaning the voter rolls is a simple, I mean, that sounds like a small thing. [10:23] It's actually a big thing, because if you have dirty rolls, [10:26] then you're going to have ballots going out, you know, you're going to have live ballots [10:31] being circulated out in the mail, and you don't know who's handling those ballots, [10:35] who's filling them out, who's returning them. [10:37] So there's a lot California can do. [10:41] So I, yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot of proposals. [10:44] And I think ballot harvesting is very corrosive. [10:47] I do. [10:48] It used to be that you could only handle the ballot of yourself and your immediate family members. [10:54] But now anyone can be paid to go harass people for their ballots to, [11:00] you know, to go take ballots. [11:02] And again, without a chain of custody, it makes it very hard for investigators to sort of [11:08] figure out where these ballots came from and who filled them out. [11:10] And so it's a lot of problems with California system. [11:13] All right. [11:14] Well, U.S. Attorney Bill said, [11:15] is there anything else you think we should know before we let you go? [11:18] No, I mean, I just at the Department of Justice, [11:20] I'll just say I'm not the election czar. [11:22] I'm not the election official. [11:24] I'm not here to fix the election system. [11:26] What we have said and what we will do at the Department of Justice is we're going to [11:30] follow the evidence. [11:30] We're going to conduct investigations. [11:32] And if we were if we determine that any federal laws were violated, [11:36] we'll bring those cases forward. [11:37] And that's what we're committed to doing here. [11:39] All right. [11:39] Mr. First Assistant, we really appreciate your time. [11:42] Thank you. [11:42] Thank you so much.