The first high-profile resignation from the Trump administration after the midterm massacre has struck at the Justice Department.
Harmeet Dhillon headed up the Civil Rights Division and reorganized the division in order to focus on Second Amendment and religious rights, college discrimination against Asians and white people, and opposing diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
'We changed it, and that's what we came here to do. And it's done.'
The resignation was first reported by Bloomberg Law.
"Today, I accepted the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Civil Rights Division with conviction the past 18 months," said Attorney General Todd Blanche in a statement on social media.
"She has defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor," he added. "The Department is grateful for her dedicated public service, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors."
While many speculated that she resigned over the devastating results of the midterm elections, Dhillon dispelled the rumors in comments to Fox News Digital.
"I wasn't asked to resign," she said. "I resigned three weeks ago, and [White House chief of staff ] Susie [Wiles] asked me to please wait until after the midterms."
Fox reported that Dhillon had submitted her resignation formally on Thursday, according to a letter the outlet obtained.
Dhillon says she wanted to return to private practice after accomplishing "everything" she had sought to do at the Civil Rights Division.
"We changed it, and that's what we came here to do. And it's done," she said of the transformation at the division.
Hundreds of workers at the Civil Rights Division left during her time there.
"I think there was some denial and they had crying sessions together," Dhillon had said of the workers leaving. "Frankly, it was shocking to them. They had unhappy hours. It was, like, a lot of drama and handwringing."
Dhillon was asked if she believed President Donald Trump would pardon her and other officials in the administration, in the event of Democrat investigations.
"I have no idea. I haven't ever discussed that with him, asked for it," she replied. "And I have done nothing, in my opinion, that would require that, but, you know, that's up to the president."
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The Republican National Committee’s Election Integrity team is fighting back against chaotic polling place disruptions.
Ballot scanners went down in Westchester County, N.Y., when polls opened Tuesday morning, and a Northern Virginia voter reportedly showed up to vote and was told he already had. Across America, the RNC’s Election Integrity team is tackling chaos at the ballot box.
‘This would not have been caught if we had not gone in person.’
In Westchester, voters are filling out paper ballots and dropping them into orange emergency bags. The county’s scanners refused deposited ballots just after the polls opened at 6 a.m., according to CBS New York.
County Executive Ken Jenkins blamed a printing problem that left ballots unreadable to the machines, according to the outlet. The state Board of Elections pointed instead to a programming change made to a contest in one municipality after the county’s equipment had been tested.
Jenkins assured voters that a bipartisan team will investigate.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said every scanner in the county had a problem, and whether “the ballot or the machine” was to blame was unknown.
“Every ballot will be counted. Stay on line and vote. Do not leave the polling place without voting,” Lawler posted.
The RNC said it had deployed extra observers in Westchester and that both Republicans and Democrats were seeking a joint court order to move ballot counting to the County Board of Elections rather than a local polling place.
The stakes are high for Lawler. His re-election race against Democrat Cait Conley in New York’s 17th District is one of the most closely watched in the country, and the district covers most of northern Westchester. Blaze News' Poll Watch has Lawler leading his opponent by just a tenth of a point.
“Long-established emergency ballot procedures have been implemented, where completed ballots are secured, under bipartisan control, and will be counted,” the New York State Board of Elections said in a statement, according to CBS New York.
RELATED: Florida voters: Has your polling station moved?
The RNC said it had resolved a polling place problem in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, a county Scott Presler reminded followers “ran out of paper in 2022.” This time around, one precinct was missing a scanner-attached ballot box, according to a voter’s account shared by Presler.
“7:45 am Butler Township Luzerne County District 8,” the voter wrote. “The scanner box for my district was not available, so they put my ballot in a holding box in the other scanning machine. I was assured it would be scanned as soon as the scanning box arrived.”
“A scanner was there, but it was not attached to a box that the ballots would fall into,” the voter wrote.
The RNC posted, “ISSUE FIXED,” on X about two hours after Presler flagged the problem.
“The RNC flagged the polling-place concern with the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections and made sure it was resolved,” RNC Election Integrity posted at noon.
The Department of Justice said Tuesday it would send monitors to Luzerne County as part of its first-ever effort to monitor elections across all 50 states. Westchester and Georgia's Fulton County are also on the DOJ's watchlist, alongside Fairfax and Prince William Counties in Northern Virginia.
The RNC is piling on with additional observers as fast as it can get them to polling stations.
“We will have extra observers present to monitor the tabulation of ballots affected by the scanner issues,” the committee posted.
The RNC's team also intervened in Ohio, where a bomb threat caused polling location Beverly Elementary School to be closed. Following RNC action, the school has been reopened for voting.
Northern Virginia suffered from an even stranger issue. Kaylee McGhee White claimed she and her husband checked in at their polling place Tuesday morning, only to be told he had already voted.
“Showed up, checked in, were immediately told a mail in ballot had already been submitted for my husband,” McGhee White wrote in an X post. “I cannot overstate how important it is to show up today. This would not have been caught if we had not gone in person.”
Poll workers eventually told her husband they had to cancel the mail ballot before he could vote in person, she said.
“We of course have no way to verify that this is what they did. But we did our part and showed up, and he was able to submit his ballot in person,” McGhee White posted.
McGhee White also claimed on X that the RNC’s Election Integrity team called her husband within five minutes of the initial complaint.
The integrity team is working feverishly to ensure voters are able to submit their ballots on Election Day.
“The RNC will NEVER stop fighting to protect the vote. See an issue? REPORT IT,” the committee posted.
The Department of Justice and the RNC Election Integrity team did not immediately respond to Blaze News’ requests for comment.
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The Trump administration lost a bid to force California to set aside ballots from a list of likely noncitizen voters.
The Department of Justice had flagged about 20,000 likely noncitizen voters and asked California to either verify their status as legal voters or segregate any ballots from those on the list.
'There is a public interest in maintaining the integrity of elections. But as discussed, the district court found that the risks that noncitizens are voting are, at best, uncertain.'
California officials resisted, claiming that the list was vague and could lead to the disenfranchisement of legal voters.
The legal battle has worked its way through the court system and now may go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A two-judge majority on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that the list was not credible, as a lower court had found.
"As the district court found — and we discern no clear error — there is no feasible way to identify and segregate the ballots of specific individuals without potentially catastrophic effects on the entire system," the unsigned ruling reads.
U.S. Circuit Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented from the majority.
"Throughout history, federal courts have acted to protect the voting and civil rights of our citizens by enjoining state action that violates the law," Bumatay wrote. "And common sense also tells us that the federal government shouldn't have to sit on its hands while a State allows the violation of federal law, especially when the integrity of federal elections is at stake."
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber previously accused the federal government of making "vague and unsubstantiated allegations" in the list from the Department of Homeland Security.
"If the federal government possesses proof that certain registered voters in California are ineligible, we will welcome the opportunity to review that evidence and any supporting data or methodology," Weber said.
The appeals court appeared to agree with that argument in its split ruling Friday.
"To be sure, there are countervailing public interests at stake," the majority ruling reads. "There is a public interest in maintaining the integrity of elections. But as discussed, the district court found that the risks that noncitizens are voting are, at best, uncertain."
The Trump administration could request that the entire Ninth Circuit Court review the case, or it could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The election is in four days.
RELATED: Newsom is OUTRAGED over Justice Department lawsuit to block votes from 20,000 'likely noncitizens'
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted a brief statement about the ruling.
"The courts have thrown out Trump's desperate and dangerous attempts to meddle in the California election process. We'll continue to fight their illegal power grabs and deliver a free and fair election," he wrote on social media.
The appeals judges who signed the majority included one nominated by President Donald Trump and one appointed by former President Joe Biden.
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"Operation Ghostbusters" is nabbing scammers stealing tens of millions of taxpayer cash — and sending it back to Kenya.
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald explained the details of "Operation Ghostbusters" in a media briefing Thursday to reporters.
'If you steal American identities, if you steal taxpayer dollars, if you exploit programs meant to help students build their future, we are resolved to find you and prosecute you.'
The operation targeted scammers in the Kenyan community who allegedly stole Americans' identities in order to create "ghost" students and then fraudulently file for financial aid from the federal government.
To express the scale of the fraud involved, McDonald said that one-third of the applications to community colleges were tagged as possible fraud in the state of California.
"These are not isolated errors. This is organized fraud at scale," said McDonald.
Heith Janke, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Division, said they have identified $32 million in losses but the total could top many tens of millions of dollars.
"This stops now," said Janke. "The FBI, working hand-in-hand with our partners at the Department of Education and Department of Justice, will follow all evidence, track every dollar, and pursue each criminal who seeks to exploit our nation’s systems."
There are over 40 open cases related to the investigation that includes 26 FBI field offices and more than 20 U.S. attorney’s offices.
The operation has led to indictments against five people in New Jersey, Nebraska, and other states. The feds also seized more than $750,000 worth of cryptocurrency with ties to networks in Kenya.
The scammers are using artificial intelligence in order to apply for the financial aid as well as complete school coursework to keep the aid flowing. Some scammers are even creating the "appearance" of fake students in online classrooms so that schools believe a real person is present.
RELATED: Feeding Our Future scammer CRIES in court at sentencing for bribing juror with $120K
The investigation linked more than 830,000 student financial aid accounts that were potentially a part of the fraud scam.
McDonald said the charges were "just the beginning" and others are expected.
"If you steal American identities, if you steal taxpayer dollars, if you exploit programs meant to help students build their future, we are resolved to find you and prosecute you," he added.
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A federal judge has forbidden one of the president's appointed prosecutors from participating in certain cases after saying he is serving "unlawfully."
Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, released a defiant statement in response to the judgment Tuesday.
'Ultimately, this question will be decided by the Supreme Court.'
"Just so there’s no confusion, today’s order is stayed and has no immediate effect," Essayli said on social media. "I remain First Assistant U.S. Attorney and continue running the office."
U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright said the Trump administration had installed Essayli as a U.S. attorney in defiance of a 120-day legal limit for acting U.S. attorneys.
Seabright gave the government a week to begin the appeals process so the ruling won't be immediately in effect.
A defense attorney who challenged Essayli's appointment back in August praised the new ruling.
"The Trump administration ignored the laws governing the appointment of U.S. Attorneys and got caught in Los Angeles," said H. Dean Steward to the Los Angeles Times. "Trump and his Department of Justice violated the law again and again in an effort to install minions as chief federal prosecutors."
Essayli also responded in a longer statement.
"We respectfully disagree with the court's order,'' said Essayli. "The president and the attorney general have every right to select supervisors within the Justice Department. Importantly, today's order is automatically stayed so the government can seek a full stay and maintain the status quo pending our appeal."
RELATED: Essayli hilariously MOCKS Newsom after he signs bills to restrict ICE operations in California
"Ultimately, this question will be decided by the Supreme Court, and I look forward to serving in my current role until then.''
Other prosecutors appointed by President Donald Trump but not approved by the U.S. Senate have been blocked from serving through legal objections.
Seabright was appointed to the court under former President George W. Bush.
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The Department of Justice is pursuing a criminal investigation into the individual(s) responsible for leaking the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, according to a new report. The New York Times first reported on the probe’s existence on Thursday, with Fox News later reporting similar findings. Unnamed sources told the Times that the inquiry is being spearheaded […]
'Given the progress that the United States has made toward remediating illegal discrimination in K–12 education, it may prove difficult for a voluntary desegregation plan today to establish the factual predicates needed to survive strict scrutiny,' the opinion states.
The Democrat attack dog's law firm represents Mary Peltola's campaign, accused in the 'Decoy Dan' ballot scheme to confuse voters.
The defense brief, saying explicitly that the government's informant was 'taking SPLC records and privileged information,' is corroborating government claims. They just said in court that documents obtained by prosecutors are real.
Republicans should not be bullied or duped into the latest inane round of 'pledges' to blindly accept the results of the midterm elections.
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