Exclusive: Senate Dems demand watchdog probe into new DHS whistleblower allegations

Democrats are calling on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) internal watchdog to open a probe into new whistleblower claims that the agency unlawfully accessed state voting records as part of the Trump administration’s escalating attempts to access state voter data.

In a letter Thursday, Senate Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Sen. Alex Padilla (Calif.), urged DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari to “immediately” open an investigation into the alleged wrongdoings detailed in the whistleblower’s claims.

“All these claims require a thorough and objective investigation, including whether authority exists to collect and use all relevant data, free of interference by agency leadership,” the senators said.

President Donald Trump has mobilized large swaths of the federal government in an effort to root out alleged voting fraud despite his own Department of Justice (DOJ) failing to provide any evidence to multiple judges that it occurs at significant rates. Trump has enlisted agencies like the U.S. Postal Service and Homeland Security, which have traditionally helped states conduct elections, in his effort to find this alleged voting fraud.

“In addition to your investigation, please use every tool at your disposal, including a management alert, to address this immediately and prevent any additional wrongdoing or misuse of agency personnel and resources while the investigation is ongoing,” the Democrats added in their letter. 

The anonymous federal official alleged in a report earlier this week that Homeland Security agents used personal information to misrepresent themselves as voters on state election agency websites to search dozens of people’s registration and voting records.

The whistleblower added that some searches were likely illegal, as certain states restrict who can view individual voters’ records to protect people’s personal information and privacy. When agents raised concerns about the legality of the searches, they were advised that they would not be held “personally liable” and were ordered to proceed, the anonymous official also said.

The searches, conducted by the primary investigative branch of DHS’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), were part of the department’s “Unlawful Voter Initiative,” a sweeping search for voting fraud — specifically instances of noncitizens registering or casting a ballot — ahead of the November elections. Instances of noncitizens attempting to register and vote are exceedingly rare and never occur in sufficient numbers to affect the outcome of an election.

Voting groups warned that the whistleblower’s allegations were “a five-alarm fire for American democracy.”

“Allegations that federal workers were pressured to fabricate evidence and falsely frame citizens as criminals strike at the heart of the Constitution and the rule of law,” Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters, said in a statement.

Senate Democrats echoed those same warnings in their letter to Cuffari.

“This initiative plainly appears to be a political exercise that poses risks to national security,”  they said.

Padilla and Schumer in a separate letter earlier this week to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and USCIS Director Joseph B. Edlow demanded an immediate halt to the searches and that DHS provide an urgent report to Congress on its activities.

In a notice to a court overseeing a voting-related lawsuit against DHS, the DOJ partially confirmed the whistleblower’s account by disclosing that agents used Social Security data to access state election records “to verify information and help determine whether illegal voting may have occurred.”

The letter to Cuffari marks the second time this month that congressional Democrats have asked for governmental watchdogs to probe whistleblower claims.

House Democrats called on the U.S. Postal Service’s (USPS) inspector general to investigate allegations that the agency’s rushed implementation of its new mail voting rule could disrupt the midterms and prevent voters from receiving ballots.

The USPS Office of Inspector General later told Democracy Docket that, in response to those calls, it planned to conduct an “independent review” of those claims.

The Supreme Court Monday upheld a lower court order barring USPS from forcing states to comply with its new election mail regulations. A separate court ruling completely blocks the postal agency from implementing its rule.