Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this week called the Department of Justice request to view Wayne County’s 2024 presidential election ballots direct federal interference.
The Detroit News on Sunday reported President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice is attempting to obtain all ballots submitted for the 2024 election in Wayne County, where Republicans have launched baseless claims of election impropriety for years.
Trump and his allies have since the 2020 argued widespread fraud occurred in Wayne County and Detroit, the largest city in the state where more than 70% of residents are Black.
City of Detroit Deputy Clerk Andre Gilbert told Michigan Chronicle the city has not received a similar request, but will be prepared if the DOJ were to issue the city a similar letter.
Harmeet Dhillon, an assistant attorney general, sent a letter Tuesday to Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett, demanding records be released to the federal government, the News reports.
“Michigan’s elections are safe and secure, and any attempt to suggest otherwise is an attempt to take away Michiganders’ constitutional right to vote,” Whitmer said. “More than 1,600 locally elected clerks across Michigan ensure that every citizen can vote and have their vote counted. This demand is a poorly disguised attempt to justify more doubt and misinformation about our elections as well as direct federal interference.”
Attorney General Nessel sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, urging her to uphold the rule of law and reject the Trump administration’s “fishing expeditions into the debunked conspiracies.”
A spokesperson for the DOJ did not reply to Michigan Chronicle’s request for comment.
Trump and his allies have for years taken aim at Black cities like Detroit, Philadelphia and Baltimore.
In 2020, a group of voters backed by the NAACP filed a lawsuit against Trump and his presidential campaign, arguing that the campaign was openly seeking to disenfranchise Black voters in Detroit.
During the 2022 midterm election, Kristina Karamo, who ran for Secretary of State against Jocelyn Benson, attempted to sue the city of Detroit to halt the counting of absentee ballots, which would have disenfranchised thousands in the city who cast votes by mail.
Trump’s campaign and his allies have presented no real evidence of widespread voter fraud that would have affected the outcome of the 2020 or 2024 election. They have faced multiple defeats in court.
In its letter, the DOJ justifies its request by citing three isolated instances of state-prosecuted voter fraud cases related to the 2020 election, and a civil case which was dismissed by now-retired Chief Judge Timothy Kenny from the Wayne County Circuit Court.
Each of the criminal cases were identified as suspicious by local clerks, referred to Michigan’s Bureau of Elections for investigation and successfully prosecuted by the Department of Attorney General, officials said.
Claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election referenced in the letter from Costantino v. Detroit were rejected by the court, which found the allegations to be “incorrect and not credible.”
Officials said none of the cases highlighted in the letter as examples of fraud were from the 2024 election cycle.
“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. This request is as absurd as it is baseless,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement.
