He is the threat

‘He is the threat’: Dem AGs brace for Trump moves after polls close

Kyle Cheney

They’ve spent months “war gaming” and “table-topping” for this moment. Now Democratic state attorneys general are bracing for the real thing: running an election while President Donald Trump controls the levers of federal power.

Democratic attorneys general say that where once foreign powers and overseas cyber threats were their primary concern, today it’s federal agencies being run by a man who has famously refused to accept election results when he or his allies lose.

“He is the threat,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in an interview. “He’s the interference.”

Courts in recent weeks have brushed back the administration’s attempts to force California to sequester ballots, block certification in Alaska and threaten election workers nationwide with criminal prosecution.

“President Trump has done more than any other President to ensure we have free and fair elections,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said.

“While extreme Democrats and the media continue to dismiss concerns about voter fraud, the Trump Administration is taking decisive action to protect our elections including prosecuting election crimes, strengthening election infrastructure security, and protecting vulnerable voters from fraud and coercion. Anyone who illegally votes in our elections will be held accountable,” Bis said.

Bonta said he’s confident states are ready to respond to the administration’s actions. But he said two things are still keeping him up at night: The prospect that federal agencies will seek to seize or sequester ballots from local election officials before they are counted; and the potential presence of federal agents or military near polling places.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said he’s also confident the elections will go smoothly, but he has a different fear than Bonta’s: rogue county election officials. Though the vast majority of election workers, Brown said, do their jobs honorably under increased pressure and scrutiny, he said some had taken a page from Trump’s book on election fraud.

“I worry a lot about a number of people I would consider election deniers in positions of authority,” Brown said in an interview.

Bonta and Brown both lamented that a once-close relationship between the states and the Justice Department had frayed.

“The Department of Justice … under Republican and Democratic administrations used to be the greatest aid to local and state governments,” Brown said. “I think, unquestionably, it’s 180 degrees different.”