Merkley, Wyden, Colleagues Sound Alarm on Trump Administration Use of Election Crimes Prosecutions to Interfere in Midterm Elections

Merkley, Wyden, Colleagues Sound Alarm on Trump Administration Use of Election Crimes Prosecutions to Interfere in Midterm Elections June 12, 2026 Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden joined their Senate colleagues in demanding answers over the Trump Administration’s decision to remove the most recent version of the Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses manual from the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) website without explanation. In their letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Senators highlighted the alarming actions taken by the Administration regarding election interference, emphasizing that the removal of the manual from the DOJ website prompts further questions over President Trump’s election interference efforts. Of particular concern, the manual stated that DOJ prosecutors should not seize voting materials until after an election had been certified. “The manual published by the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division has been easily publicly accessible on the Department’s Election Crimes Branch website in both Democratic and Republican Administrations,” wrote the Senators. “During President Trump’s first term, the manual was accompanied by a memorandum describing the Department’s longstanding election non-interference policy. While the manual underscores the importance of deterrence as the objective served by federal prosecutions of individuals who commit federal crimes in connection with an election, it also makes clear that ‘this deterrence is achieved by public awareness of the Department’s prosecutive interest in, and prosecution of, election fraud— not through interference with the process itself .’” The Senators questioned Acting Attorney General Blanche on the Administration’s motivations for removing the manual from the DOJ website and any efforts to restore it. They further requested clarification from the Administration to understand any outside influences or partisan political motives. The oversight letter asked whether revisions will be included and if Trump’s allies will contribute to those revisions. The removal of this DOJ guidance comes as the Administration has threatened election takeover efforts which will result in voter suppression across the country, especially in this year’s midterm elections. The Senators further warned that the removal of the manual paves the way for politically motivated legal actions by the Trump Administration in advance of the midterm elections. “While the Department’s ongoing voter roll lawsuits are failing across the country, we are concerned that those efforts, which were calculated to compel states into inaccurately purging voters, may be the pretext for more meritless pre- and post-election challenges, including interfering with election certification,” continued the Senators. “Similarly, unsubstantiated claims by DOJ leadership of ‘tens of thousands noncitizens on voter rolls’ are reckless, as time and again, those claims have been refuted by findings that many individuals are falsely identified as noncitizens, and the extremely rare appearance of noncitizen registrants on the voter rolls or the even more extremely rare cases of noncitizen voters are often due to bureaucratic errors or misunderstandings about eligibility, as opposed to intentional fraud.” The letter was led by Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). In addition to Merkley and Wyden, the letter was signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.). The full letter is available here and below: Dear Acting Attorney General Blanche: We write regarding the Department of Justice’s (DOJ or Department) decision to remove the Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses manual, now in its eighth edition, from the Department’s website without explanation. In the context of other alarming actions taken by the Trump Administration’s Department of Justice, including pursuing politically-motivated investigations at the direction of the White House; implementing drastic changes to the longstanding mission of the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section; suing 30 states for unrestricted access to their voter rolls; and making unprecedented demands for ballots, election equipment, and names of election workers, the removal of this manua