LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, the state’s top law enforcement officer, with support from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, is refusing to cooperate with a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) request for November 2024 election materials.

The DOJ threatens legal action.

In a letter sent to Wayne County Clerk Cathy M. Garrett, the DOJ requests all ballots, ballot receipts, and ballot envelopes from the November 2024 election. The letter states, “Congress empowered the Attorney General, or his representative, to request all records related to voter registration and other acts requisite to voting for any federal office. Such records must be preserved for twenty-two months after any federal general, special, or primary election.”

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If the county refuses to turn over the materials within 14 days, the DOJ said it will issue a court order.

Nessel said, “Once again, President Trump is weaponizing the Justice Department in an attempt to sabotage our democratic process and turn it into his own personal agency to interfere in state elections.” Nessel, who’s sued the Trump administration more than 50 times since his second term began, called the request “baseless.”

“States are not in compliance.”

But it may not be as baseless as Nessel would like Michiganders to believe. Benson’s office has admitted that a handful of noncitizens voted in that very election. In addition, she has not cleaned up the voter rolls. Rep. Rachelle Smit (R-Martin) said when she served as a local clerk, dead voters kept getting added back on the list.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon spoke on Fox News about the 50-state effort to evaluate federal elections. “About a third of the states have voluntarily complied with us or reached settlements with us,” Dhillon said. “We’re doing that to make sure states are in compliance. Guess what? States are not in compliance.”

In addition, Dhillon took a swing at Democratic-led states and said “The Left told us [noncitizen voting and dead people voting is] a myth. It definitely happened!

 

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Secretary of State Benson, who will oversee her own primary when her name appears in the governor’s section on the August ballot, recently dropped off her nominating petitions to herself.