A Trump-appointed federal prosecutor says criminal election fraud charges are imminent in California, as the Justice Department's bid to audit the state's voter rolls reaches a federal appeals court.
Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said this week that his office is preparing to file charges tied to multiple active election fraud investigations. "I expect people will be charged," Essayli told The Hill. He told Glenn Beck on Monday that charges are expected within one to two months, explaining that prosecutors are waiting for certain June 2 primary results to be certified before filing, a step needed to establish elements of the cases in court.
Essayli said his office has "multiple election fraud investigations underway," all coordinated with FBI Los Angeles. He declined to identify targets or allege specific conduct beyond pointing to a case resolved this week as a preview of the investigations already bearing results.
That case involves Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, of Marina del Rey, who pleaded guilty June 8 to paying people, including residents of Los Angeles' Skid Row, to register to vote. According to her plea agreement, Armstrong worked for nearly two decades as a paid petition circulator, collecting signatures to qualify California ballot initiatives and referendums. "Before she could have a homeless person sign a petition, she first needed to get them to register to vote, and that's what she paid them to do," Essayli said at a Monday news conference, according to NBC Los Angeles. Court documents show Armstrong also listed her own former address on registration forms when individuals lacked a permanent home address. She faces up to five years in federal prison. Sentencing is set for August 31.
Running alongside the criminal cases is a federal lawsuit over access to California's voter registration data. In September 2025, the Justice Department sued California Secretary of State Shirley Weber along with officials in roughly two dozen other states for refusing to turn over unredacted voter registration files. The effort has been coordinated by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the Civil Rights Division. The DOJ argues the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 together require states to provide the full voter file, including names, residential addresses, driver's license numbers, and the last four digits of Social Security numbers, for federal inspection.
U.S. District Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee, dismissed the California case in January 2026, ruling the government's demand was "unprecedented and illegal," according to NPR. The DOJ appealed, and a Ninth Circuit panel heard oral arguments this week. The three-judge panel, which included two judges appointed by Democratic presidents, appeared largely skeptical of the administration's legal theory, the Washington Examiner reported. Judge Lucy Koh challenged the DOJ's attorney on the statutory basis for the demand, noting that the original letter to state officials did not even cite the Civil Rights Act of 1960 as authority.
Essayli has accused California officials of deliberately blocking the federal voter-roll audit. "What are they afraid of?" he said, according to the Western Journal. State officials have pushed back, arguing that surrendering the personal data of 23 million registered voters raises privacy and security risks that no federal law requires them to accept.
Stakes Before the Midterms
The Ninth Circuit has set no timeline for its ruling. A decision in the DOJ's favor could force California to hand over its voter rolls before November 2026, giving federal auditors an unprecedented look at registration data ahead of a competitive midterm cycle. A ruling against the administration would effectively end the litigation route and leave Essayli's criminal cases as the primary remaining lever for federal election integrity enforcement in California.
Essayli has been personally monitoring ballot processing at the Los Angeles County election center since the June 2 primary, amid concerns about late-arriving vote counts in several high-profile races, including the Los Angeles mayoral contest, ABC7 Los Angeles reported. His office has not confirmed the scope of the remaining investigations beyond the Armstrong guilty plea. What is confirmed is that charges are coming, California has declined to cooperate with the voter-roll audit, and the outcomes of both fights will likely be decided before voters go to the polls this fall.
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