Federal authorities open investigation into alleged voter fraud in the California primary election

Federal authorities in California launched investigations Friday into alleged voter fraud after President Donald Trump claimed that Democrats engaged in numerous types of irregularities during the primary election. Through his X account, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, who was appointed by the Republican leader, announced that his office maintains "multiple election fraud investigations underway," although he did not offer specific details about the cases.

Although the electoral process in California took place last Tuesday, the final results have taken longer than expected to be known, which has generated numerous criticisms not only from numerous Republican politicians, but also from some Democrats. Faced with this fact, Trump published on Thursday on his official Truth Social account a message in which he denounced possible irregularities. "Watch California, everybody! Our Election process is as bad, or worse, than any Third World Country. The biggest difference is, they count their Votes much faster — They don’t wait seven days to tell you who won, rigging the Election during each and every one of them. Americans are ashamed of what is happening!" wrote Trump.

In his Friday release, Essayli detailed that "We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent," adding that California's election system has "serious structural vulnerabilities," specifically noting the widespread use of vote-by-mail voting and the absence of a photo ID requirement to vote. Essayli also revealed that his office is "working closely" with Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, to review California's voter rolls and "verify that only eligible U.S. citizens" are registered to vote. "My office will not look the other way. We will investigate and prosecute. Every legal vote deserves to be counted. Every illegal vote cancels one out," the assistant U.S. attorney wrote.