Attorney General Todd Blanche used Tuesday’s White House press briefing to detail a Justice Department push against illegal voting, telling reporters the department has charged nearly four times as many noncitizen voting cases in under two years as the prior administration brought over a full four-year term.
Blanche, who has stepped in as one of several administration officials filling briefing duties since Karoline Leavitt’s resignation, said the department has filed charges against 11 people over the past ten days alone for allegedly voting illegally in the 2022 and 2024 elections or fraudulently registering to vote.
“Election integrity SHOULD NOT be a partisan issue,” Blanche said. “Those who are not legally allowed to vote shouldn’t, and if you knowingly break the law, you will be held accountable.”
He said the cases extend beyond illegal aliens voting to include noncitizens who are not eligible to vote and people fraudulently registering others who don’t qualify. “We’re currently investigating hundreds of cases across the country,” Blanche said, adding that U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould in northern Texas was set to announce “a big development on this topic” within the hour.
Supreme Court Ruling on Mail-In Ballots
Blanche also addressed Monday’s Supreme Court decision denying the administration’s emergency request to let a new U.S. Postal Service ballot-mail rule take effect for the 2026 elections.
Asked whether he agreed with a Truth Social post in which President Trump criticized justices he had appointed during his first term as “not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court, they are merely a shell of their original selves,” Blanche declined to echo the criticism.
“Of course we’re going to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision, as we always do. That doesn’t mean we’re not going to do everything in this administration that we can to make sure there are free and fair elections.”
Blanche said both he and the president were frustrated by the ruling, but noted that Trump has also “publicly been very appreciative of the Supreme Court when there’s decisions that he very much agrees with. That’s what a democracy is about.”
Future White House briefings are expected to be handled on a rotating basis by other cabinet officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
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