Trump official hits back at Newsom’s claim DOJ has ‘no business’ monitoring California election

WASHINGTON, DC: California Governor Gavin Newsom’s criticism of the Justice Department’s (DOJ) plan to oversee California’s election has drawn swift backlash. Newsom said the DOJ has 'no business' during the election time in November 2025.

Now, Harmeet Dhillon, DOJ’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, countered Newsom’s remarks by noting that the department has routinely deployed election monitors to regions with prior voting concerns to ensure compliance with federal election laws.

“Lol calm down bro,” Donald Trump's official, Dhillon wrote on X, reposting Newsom’s video on Saturday, October 25.

Donald Trump's official hits back at Gavin Newsom over DOJ’s decision to deploy federal election observers 

Gavin Newsom sparked backlash after criticizing the Justice Department’s decision to deploy federal election observers to California and New Jersey ahead of next month’s elections. 

In a video posted on X (formerly Twitter), Newsom accused the DOJ of political interference, calling it “Donald Trump’s puppet.”

He said, “DOJ has no business screwing around with next month's election. Sending the feds into California polling places is a deliberate attempt to scare off voters and undermine a fair election.”

His comments quickly drew a fiery response from Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and a Trump administration official. “Lol calm down bro,” Dhillon wrote on X. “The @TheJusticeDept under Democrat administrations has sent in federal election observers for decades, and not once did we hear that this was voter intimidation from states such as California. Do you really want to go there? Isn’t transparency a good thing?”

Newsom has not yet replied to Dhillon's comment.

Adding to the backlash, Dr Houman Hemmati also weighed in on X, writing, “Hey @GavinNewsom WHY would any legitimate voter be ‘scared off’ by having federal election observers? Most people think legitimate voters would be more likely to vote because they’d trust the process. But clearly you’re afraid of something. I wonder what that is…”

Is Justice Department's election oversight new?

No. The Justice Department’s election oversight is nothing new. Its civil rights lawyers have monitored polls for decades. While the current oversight is happening under Donald Trump’s presidency, similar measures were carried out under previous administrations.

The DOJ deployed election monitors to California twice during the Biden administration, during the 2022 and 2024 general elections. Under Biden, federal election resources were also sent to several non-federal contests, including Alaska’s municipal elections in October 2023, New Jersey’s off-year general election in 2023, and Mississippi’s off-year general election that same year, as per Fox News.

Speaking about Election monitors, they are attorneys from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and US attorneys' offices nationwide. They are not federal agents or law enforcement officers but rather legal experts who ensure that polling sites comply with federal voting laws.

For decades, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has dispatched these monitors to polling places across the country for both federal and local elections. Their mission is to uphold laws such as the Voting Rights Act, which bans intimidation or threats against voters and election workers.