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A federal appellate court panel posed skeptical questions to Trump administration lawyers Sunday as they pressed a California voter fraud suit.

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to block former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola’s victory in the 2026 US Senate election. If you’re confused by this development, you should be. Because the election won’t happen for more than a week. The case arises out of an odd candidacy that might undercut […]

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here. Welcome to The Logoff: The Trump administration is getting a head start on litigating the midterms. What’s happening? The administration is asking a federal district court in Alaska to […]

A Syracuse, New York, woman who says she only recently learned she wasn't born in the U.S. has been charged with voting illegally, one of the latest arrests touted by the Trump administration as it hunts for noncitizen voters ahead of the midterm elections.

Most of the immigrants targeted by federal authorities in California this week for alleged voter fraud had applied for U.S. citizenship and now face charges related to lying on forms or during interviews. Those charges could lead to years in prison and thwart their efforts to naturalize.

The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit to preemptively block certification of the Senate race in Alaska if the Republican incumbent loses while another candidate with the same name is on the ballot.

Most of the immigrants targeted by federal authorities in California this week for alleged voter fraud had applied for U.S. citizenship and now face charges related to lying on forms or during interviews. Those charges could lead to years in prison and thwart their efforts...

This move has sparked concerns about a lengthy battle between the U.S. government and states over election certification.

Serbia's longtime leader Aleksandar Vučić seeks to return as prime minister in Sunday's election, counting on his economic record, ties to President Donald Trump's administration, and independent foreign policy to defeat a well-funded left-wing opposition.

The Justice Department asked an appeals court Thursday to intervene in its lawsuit seeking to temporarily block California from counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 voters the Trump administration says are likely not U.S. citizens.The Justice Department asked the...

Canada has allegedly barred its diplomats from interacting with U.S. midterm candidates to avoid any allegations of election interference from the Trump administration, according to multiple reports. Written guidance issued earlier this week reportedly ordered Canadian officials based in the U.S. not to meet with candidates — or even be in the same room with...

The Trump administration accused Canada of election interference, as politically-charged fears swirled over potential meddling ahead of the US midterms.

A federal judge restricted DHS investigations into suspected noncitizen voting in nine states, citing concerns that the agency's tactics could intimidate eligible voters. Why it matters: With the midterms less than two weeks away, the ruling curtails a central part of the Trump administration's efforts to investigate suspected noncitizen voting. Driving the news: The ruling blocks election-related field operations and interviews under the government's Unlawful Voter Initiative that involve or are likely to involve U.S. citizens. California-based District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín also blocked the administration from conducting operations against likely citizens in those states relying on records generated by its voter-matching policy. Zoom in: Martínez-Olguín wrote in her Wednesday order that the groups that sued provided "substantial evidence" that the government's "intimidating conduct" was "directly interfering with their members' right to encourage voters to participate in the 2026 midterm elections." Her order stated that DHS had compiled a "target list" of individuals from a variety of sources, including state voter rolls and commercial data. But Martínez-Olguín cast doubt on the accuracy of the administration's data, warning of "a high likelihood of error in review because there is no federal database containing citizenship status of U.S. residents." Court filings indicated that officers were ordered to prioritize probes in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. Catch up quick: Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Alex Padilla (Calif.) released a whistleblower report last month alleging that officials had diverted fraud and national security personnel to the Unlawful Voter Initiative using "highly questionable data" and methods. The whistleblower disclosure alleged officers were directed to access sensitive voter information in violation of state laws under minimal training and significant pressure. The other side: "DHS is laser focused on identifying, prosecuting, and removing aliens who vote and dilute the votes of U.S. citizens," a spokesperson told Axios in a statement, adding that the department has "no plans to question or investigate people we believe to be U.S. citizens." Responding to the nonprofits and local government entities that sued, the administration argued in court that DHS " reasonably decided to make use of the best data it had available to it to perform its law enforcement role, notwithstanding that the information may not be perfect in all cases." They also continued that the allegations of voter intimidation were too vague. The White House referred Axios to DHS for comment. Zoom out: Courts have repeatedly blocked the Trump administration's attempts to obtain state voter data , but the administration has pursued suspected noncitizen voting — which is rare — through other means. Last week, the administration sued California and election officials over claims that suspected ineligible voters received mail-in ballots for the election, asking a court to delay about 20,000 voters from having their ballots counted. But as Axios' Brittany Gibson notes , administration-created lists of potential noncitizens on voter rolls have been found less than accurate before, including in Nevada . What we're watching: The administration faces continuing legal challenges to its election-related initiatives ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms. On Tuesday, Democratic groups sued the government , accusing it of using unfounded fraud claims as a cudgel to insert itself in administering elections. Go deeper: Trump's October barrage

Welcome to Thursday’s edition of Washington Secrets. If you thought you were hearing a lot about the Trump administration’s efforts to tackle fraud in government programs, then get set: You’re going to be hearing a lot more about it in the next week and a half. We talk to a top Trump strategist about why […]

A federal judge has ordered that President Donald Trump’s administration must halt investigations in nine states into whether noncitizens are registered to vote

Federal agents have knocked on doors in some states to check on citizenship and voter status as midterms approach, raising concerns over voter suppression by the Trump administration. Nicole Sganga reports.

States say the administration's steps reflect federal overreach and are meant to sow distrust in the outcome of the election.

Democratic leaders and election groups filed a lawsuit against President Trump and the Justice Department (DOJ) on Tuesday, seeking to block federal officials from pressuring states to remove voters from their rolls ahead of the November midterm elections. The 44-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accuses the DOJ...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democrats sued President Donald Trump and senior administration officials on Tuesday over the federal effort to identify noncitizens and other illegal registrants on state voter rolls, setting up a court fight as the administration steps up enforcement in California. The 44-page complaint filed in Washington, D.C., federal […]

The department has long deployed election monitors, but the Trump administration's unprecedented steps to try to wrestle control over elections have led to new concerns about DOJ monitoring this year.

Democratic groups sued the Trump administration Tuesday, accusing it of using unfounded voter fraud claims to muscle its way into how states run elections. Why it matters: The groups say the administration is issuing a stream of threats to intimidate and bully both voters and election officials. They're asking a judge to declare the administration's actions unlawful and block further interference. Driving the news: The lawsuit condemns the administration for targeting state voter rolls by insisting that local officials review federally compiled lists of alleged noncitizens on their voter rolls. The suit also alleges that the administration is improperly demanding that states deny ballots to registered voters based on those federal lists. The Democrat-aligned groups also claim the administration has attempted to intimidate state and local officials by threatening them with jail time or prosecution. Case in point: The lawsuit cites a Department of Homeland Security claim that Nevada had nearly 16,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls. The department later claimed that it had confirmed 185 of those people were noncitizens. State records later indicated that all 185 were citizens. The DOJ also demanded that California deny ballots to more than 20,000 people based on a federal list that flagged them as suspected ineligible voters, the lawsuit says. A preliminary investigation by Los Angeles County investigators found that more than 25% of those flagged listed a U.S. birthplace, and others already had their voter registrations canceled. What they're saying: "Department of Justice and DHS officials have sought to bolster their interference efforts through a persistent stream of threats and intimidation directed towards state and local election officials across the country," the groups' attorneys wrote. "Defendants' coercive threats of legal retaliation against state officials, including even potential imprisonment, for simply following state law and aiding registered voters in casting their ballots objectively intimidate voters and election officials alike, in violation of Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act." The suit, brought by Democratic organizations including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic leaders and a voter, names Trump, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, and their respective heads as defendants. The other side: "The Justice Department enforces federal election law, and election integrity is a top priority," a DOJ spokesperson told Axios in an emailed statement "Every action the Department has taken to protect the integrity of this year's elections is grounded in the law and being litigated in open court. Ensuring that only eligible citizens vote and that every lawful ballot is counted is a requirement of federal law." "We notified California that noncitizens are likely registered to vote, and we asked the state to independently verify the citizenship of any ballots cast by people on a list that we provided. It refused to do so. Federal law doesn't permit this willful blindness." The White House and DHS did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. Zoom out: The suit also argues that the president has no constitutional authority to decide who gets to vote or dictate how states count ballots. Investigations and audits have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Research shows noncitizen voting is rare, and there's no evidence it occurs on a scale that could swing elections. Go deeper: Trump sues California to prevent counting 20,000 voters' ballots

Charged more than two dozen residents

Over the past decade, Hungary has been a beacon for the ‘postliberal’ right, with pro-Trump thinkers making regular pilgrimages to Budapest. Now Orbán is gone, how will the movement adapt? A longer version of this article first appeared in The Drift Espresso Embassy, a third-wave coffee shop in Budapest’s diplomatic and governmental quarter, is where visiting reporters and academics come to talk politics. On the way in for my morning coffee on 18 March, I passed a poster for Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party that had been vandalised with a marker pen: “the safe choice” had become “the certain way to get fucked”. From across the cafe, I spotted the American journalist and historian Anne Applebaum locked in conversation, possibly with a source. I heard someone exclaim: “Just like Mussolini!” It was election season in Hungary. It was also a couple of days before Cpac Hungary , a satellite event of the US-based conservative conference. As members of the international right arrived in town, the notorious Orbánist thinktank known as the Danube Institute was hosting an event called On Censorship, Tolerance, the Left and God. The official line would be: bad, good, bad, good. Continue reading...