{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://krishnamoorthi.house.gov/media/press-releases/krishnamoorthi-demands-answers-after-fbi-director-patel-refuses-rule-out", "Krishnamoorthi Demands Answers After FBI Director Patel Refuses to Rule Out Deploying FBI Agents to Polling Places", "2026-09-17", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "House", "IL", "Raja Krishnamoorthi", "K000391", "krishnamoorthi.house.gov", "krishnamoorthi", "https://krishnamoorthi.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) today demanded answers from Attorney General Todd Blanche after FBI Director Kash Patel repeatedly refused to rule out deploying FBI agents to polling places during the November midterm elections, the latest Trump Administration official to leave open the possibility of armed federal agents being sent to polling places on Election Day.\n\nDuring testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, Patel repeatedly declined to give senators an unequivocal commitment that FBI agents would not be stationed at or dispatched to polling places on Election Day. When Senator Richard Blumenthal pressed Patel to commit that zero agents would be present at polling locations, Patel instead declined to rule out deployments in response to reports of \u201cproblems\u201d or \u201cinterference.\u201d\n\nIn the letter, Krishnamoorthi writes:\n\n\u201cThis ambiguity is difficult to reconcile with federal law. Since 1948, 18 U.S.C. \u00a7 592 has made it a felony for any officer \u2018in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States\u2019 to order, bring, or keep \u2018armed men\u2019 at any place where a general election is held, absent the need to repel armed enemies of the United States. The penalty includes up to five years\u2019 imprisonment and disqualification from federal office. The Department\u2019s own manual on the Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses has long construed that provision to reach armed federal agents, not merely military personnel.\u201d\n\nKrishnamoorthi noted that Patel\u2019s testimony follows months of similar statements from senior Trump Administration officials. At his confirmation hearing, Blanche declined to categorically rule out armed federal agents at polling locations, while DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said armed federal law enforcement could be sent to polls in response to a \u201cspecific threat.\u201d\n\nThe letter also points to President Trump\u2019s July address claiming that hostile foreign nations could \u201crig\u201d or \u201csteal\u201d American elections, despite the intelligence community\u2019s conclusion that there were no indications any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the 2020 voting process.\n\nKrishnamoorthi writes:\n\n\u201cThe purpose of that address was not to inform the public. It was to manufacture a national security predicate for federal intervention in the vote-casting process. This Administration is not responding to a threat to our elections. It is building the justification for one.\u201d\n\nKrishnamoorthi requested that Blanche respond by September 24, 2026, to the following questions:\n\nDoes the Department of Justice have a written policy, consistent with past practice, prohibiting FBI agents from being stationed at or dispatched to polling places on Election Day absent a specific, credible report of a federal crime in progress? If so, please provide a copy.\n\nHas that policy changed, been suspended, or been reinterpreted at any point during your tenure or Director Patel's tenure? If so, when, by whom, and why?\n\nDid Director Patel or any other Department or FBI official communicate to John James, or any other candidate, party official, or campaign, that FBI personnel would have a \u201cpresence\u201d in specific geographic areas of Michigan \u2014 or any other state \u2014 in the lead-up to the November election? If so, please describe the nature, purpose, and legal basis for that presence.\n\nWill you commit, on behalf of the Department, that no FBI personnel will be stationed at or visibly deployed to polling places during voting hours on Election Day, absent a specific warrant or credible report of an ongoing federal crime?\n\nKrishnamoorthi concludes:\n\n\u201cThe American people deserve an unequivocal answer to a simple question: will armed federal agents be present at their polling places in November? Director Patel had every opportunity today to provide that assurance and did not. I trust that you, as the nation's chief law enforcement officer, will not permit that ambiguity to stand unaddressed.\u201d", 1, "2026-09-18T09:27:43Z", "2026-09-18T09:29:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://krishnamoorthi.house.gov/media/press-releases/krishnamoorthi-demands-answers-after-fbi-director-patel-refuses-rule-out"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.943300012499094, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}