{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://krishnamoorthi.house.gov/media/press-releases/krishnamoorthi-renews-demand-answers-trump-doj-republican-officials-raise", "Krishnamoorthi Renews Demand for Answers from Trump DOJ as Republican Officials Raise Alarm Over \u201cAggressive\u201d Election Monitors", "2026-09-01", "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), a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, today renewed his demand for answers from Attorney General Todd Blanche as Republican officials in Wyoming raised alarms over the conduct of Department of Justice election monitors during the state\u2019s August primary. The concerns come as Trump DOJ expands election monitoring ahead of the November midterms, including plans to deploy as many as 1,000 federal personnel nationwide.\n\nIn the letter, Krishnamoorthi writes:\n\n\u201cAccording to public reporting, the Civil Rights Division dispatched two attorneys to observe polling sites in Laramie County during Wyoming\u2019s primary. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon \u2014 a Republican \u2014 told the state\u2019s canvassing board on August 26 that the monitors\u2019 conduct was \u2018aggressive\u2019 and \u2018irregular,\u2019 and that it \u2018seemed to exceed\u2019 the authority Congress gave them.\u201d\n\nThe monitors reportedly sought to interview voters and examine election equipment and poll-worker training activities, while several state and local officials said they had not been notified in advance of the deployment. Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee, also a Republican, called the operation \u201ca poorly managed exercise\u201d that showed \u201ccomplete disregard for our state laws and administration of our elections.\u201d\n\nKrishnamoorthi continues:\n\n\u201cThese are not the objections of partisan critics. They come from a Republican governor and a Republican County clerk in one of the most reliably Republican states in the country, both of whom raised concerns about the way the Department\u2019s monitors conducted themselves. Regardless of one\u2019s views on the Department\u2019s monitoring initiative, these allegations warrant a clear explanation from the Department about what occurred, what authority the monitors were exercising, and what steps will be taken to prevent similar problems in November.\u201d\n\nDOJ has also deployed Civil Rights Division personnel to monitor elections in Florida, Minnesota, and other jurisdictions this cycle. Krishnamoorthi is seeking information on whether officials elsewhere have raised similar concerns and what changes DOJ will make before deploying monitors during the November general election.\n\nKrishnamoorthi is demanding answers to the following questions:\n\nWhy were the Wyoming Attorney General, the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, and the Laramie County Clerk\u2019s Office not notified in advance of the monitors\u2019 deployment? Was any state or local official notified before the monitors arrived, and, if so, when and by whom? Is advance coordination with state and local election officials the Department\u2019s standard practice?\n\nWhat written guidance governed the monitors\u2019 interactions with voters, poll workers, and election administrators in Laramie County, and does that guidance differ from the guidance provided to monitors in other jurisdictions this primary season?\n\nHas the Department received complaints, concerns, or objections regarding monitor conduct from officials in any other jurisdiction monitored during the 2026 primaries, including Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, or Florida? If so, please identify the jurisdictions, the nature of the complaints, and how the Department responded.\n\nHow many Civil Rights Division personnel have been deployed to monitor elections during the 2026 primary season to date, and to how many jurisdictions have they been deployed?\n\nWhat changes, if any, will the Department make to monitor training, advance coordination, written guidance, or supervisory oversight before deploying monitors for the November general election?\n\nWill the Department commit to notifying appropriate state and local election officials sufficiently in advance of any November deployment, absent an extraordinary circumstance in which advance notice would materially compromise a legitimate federal enforcement objective?\n\nKrishnamoorthi requested responses to these questions, together with those in his August 19 letter, by September 7, 2026.", 1, "2026-09-02T09:19:58Z", "2026-09-02T09:20:51Z"]], "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-renews-demand-answers-trump-doj-republican-officials-raise"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4121169224381447, "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"}