Key facts
- Kurt Olsen, who aided efforts to overturn the 2020 election, joined the Justice Department in Florida.
- Prosecutors are examining whether past investigations of President Trump constituted a criminal conspiracy.
- Federal authorities are investigating alleged election fraud in California.
- Investigations in California focus on slow vote-counting and universal vote-by-mail.
- The Justice Department directed prosecutors to pursue voter fraud cases by non-citizens.
- Approximately 90 investigations into immigrant voter fraud are currently open.
- A Jan. 6 rioter convicted for his role in the Capitol riot was hired by the Pentagon.
- The Trump administration halted approximately $3 million in annual federal funding to Hawaii's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
- President Trump nominated Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to permanently lead the DOJ.
- The DOJ will not proceed with a $1.7 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund.
The Justice Department is engaged in a broad range of investigations and actions concerning election integrity and alleged fraud across the United States. Kurt Olsen, an attorney known for supporting efforts to overturn the 2020 election, has been appointed as a senior attorney within the Justice Department in Florida. His role will involve reporting to prosecutors who are examining whether previous investigations into President Trump constituted a criminal conspiracy. Concurrently, federal authorities, including the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California and the FBI, have launched multiple investigations into alleged election fraud within California. These investigations are particularly focused on the state's protracted vote-counting process and its widespread adoption of a universal vote-by-mail system.
Further underscoring a focus on voter fraud, the U.S. Justice Department has issued directives to prosecutors nationwide, urging them to actively pursue cases involving alleged voter fraud by non-citizens. Currently, approximately 90 investigations into immigrant voter fraud are underway across the country. In a separate development concerning individuals involved in challenging election outcomes, a man convicted for his participation in the January 6th Capitol riot has secured a position within the Pentagon's policy office. Reports indicate that the Trump administration played a role in facilitating this hiring process. The Trump administration has also taken action to halt approximately $3 million in annual federal funding to Hawaii's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. This decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General stems from the unit's alleged failure to secure criminal indictments or convictions for Medicaid fraud or patient abuse between 2022 and 2025, leading to the denial of federal certification.
In personnel matters within the Justice Department, President Trump has nominated Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to permanently lead the department. This nomination follows a public disagreement where President Trump criticized Senator Thom Tillis as a 'loser' for not supporting Blanche's confirmation, a stance Tillis linked to condemning the January 6th Capitol attacks. Additionally, Acting Attorney General Blanche has announced that the Justice Department will not proceed with a controversial $1.7 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund. The Justice Department is also defending Chicago US attorney John Lausch Jr. amidst controversy regarding his office's handling of a former alderman's case. In a legal filing, the Trump administration denied unlawfully retaliating against the AI company Anthropic, acknowledging that agencies restricted its products after the company resisted Pentagon demands concerning military applications of its Claude chatbot. Anthropic had filed a lawsuit alleging that this 'blacklisting' violated its free speech rights. Meanwhile, the University of Oregon is reportedly facing a $65 million budget crisis and declining enrollment, leading to dormitory closures, with author Jonathan Turley attributing these issues to the university's 'woke' policies and a lack of intellectual diversity.