{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/judiciary-democrats-call-on-doj-to-produce-documents-that-may-show-coordination-with-trump-voter-fraud-commission", "Judiciary Democrats Call on DOJ to Produce Documents That May Show Coordination with Trump Voter Fraud Commission", "2017-10-17", "2017", "2017-10", "Democrat", "House", "VT", "Patrick Leahy", "L000174", "www.leahy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "10.17.17\n\t\t\t Judiciary Democrats Call on DOJ to Produce Documents That May Show Coordination with Trump Voter Fraud Commission \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t \u2018If these communications concern ongoing or contemplated cases or investigations in the Civil Rights Division, they could violate the Administration\u2019s policy limiting contacts between the White House and the Department\u2019\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t Recently revealed court records suggest the Department of Justice coordinated with President Donald Trump\u2019s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which has sought sensitive voter roll data on the majority of the voting public and conducted highly partisan hearings based on discredited allegations of voter fraud.\u00a0 Today, all Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee signed a letter, led by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), pushing the Justice Department to produce documents described in the court records that show such coordination is taking place.\u00a0 The Senators\u2019 letter follows a similar request to the Justice Department in late September that has gone unanswered.\r\nAt the beginning of the month, in a court case between the Commission and the civil rights group Lawyers\u2019 Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Commission produced an index of hundreds of Commission-related documents being withheld by the Department.\u00a0 Entries on the list \u201cappear to show that the Department was coordinating with the Commission about data collection and other voting issues,\u201d the Senators write.\r\n\u201cIf these communications concern ongoing or contemplated cases or investigations in the Civil Rights Division, they could violate the Administration\u2019s policy limiting contacts between the White House and the Department,\u201d the Senators continue.\u00a0 \u201cFull disclosure of these documents is necessary for Congress to provide appropriate oversight on this issue.\u201d\r\nIn March, former Justice Department Civil Rights Division staffer J. Christopher Adams, the Heritage Foundation\u2019s Hans von Spakovsky, and Kansas Secretary of State and Commission Vice Chair Kris Kobach called for ridding the Civil Rights Division of \u201cideological rot.\u201d\u00a0 They proposed doing so by stripping career attorneys of hiring and firing authority and vesting that authority with Trump political appointees.\u00a0 In June, the Commission and the Chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division sent letters on the same day to state election officials seeking voter roll information.\r\nFull text of the Senators\u2019 letter is below.\u00a0 A PDF copy is available here.\r\n\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\n\u00a0\r\nOctober 17, 2017\r\nDear Attorney General Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, Associate Attorney General Brand, and Acting Assistant Attorney General Gore:\r\nWe write to follow up on our previous inquiries regarding the Department of Justice\u2019s (\u201cDOJ\u201d) involvement with the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (\u201cthe Commission\u201d).\r\nOn July 11, we wrote to request information regarding DOJ\u2019s June 28 letter to forty-four states requesting information about state-level procedures for maintaining voter registration lists.\u00a0 We wrote again on September 26, regarding documents that showed DOJ leadership\u2019s apparent role in selecting the members of the Commission.\u00a0 We have not yet received responses to these letters.\r\nSince then, additional documents have come to light evidencing the Department\u2019s involvement with the Commission\u2019s workings.\u00a0 This is concerning, particularly in light of another recent court production showing Commission Vice Chair Kris Kobach\u2019s plans to dismantle the National Voter Registration Act.[1]\u00a0 As we have written before, it would be a low moment for the Department to have been a facilitator of Mr. Kobach\u2019s efforts to suppress voter access by perpetuating the myth of widespread voter fraud.\u00a0\r\nIn litigation against the Lawyers\u2019 Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Commission recently produced a Vaughn index to justify withholding from FOIA production hundreds of Commission-related documents.[2]\u00a0 While we have reasons to question the Commission\u2019s bases for those non-disclosures even in the context of private party litigation, FOIA exemptions are not a basis for the executive branch to shield documents from Congressional oversight.\u00a0 From the Vaughn index, it is clear that the Department is in possession of, and indeed has already collected, documents responsive to our earlier requests.\r\nThese include at least the following entries on the Commission\u2019s Vaughn index:\r\n \r\nMay 15, 2017:\u00a0 \u201cemail exchange re: Chicago board of election\u201d (DOJ official to Commissioner Christy McCormick) (#541)\r\n \r\n \r\nJune 15, 2017:\u00a0 \u201cemail about setting up a time to speak\u201d\u00a0 (Andrew Kossack, the Commission\u2019s designated federal officer, to DOJ official) (#687)\r\n \r\n \r\nJuly 5-6, 2017:\u00a0 \u201cemail exchange discussing voting issue with attachment\u201d (DOJ Official to McCormick) (#544)\r\n \r\n \r\nAug. 1-2, 2017:\u00a0 \u201cemail chain and planner setting a time for a call\u201d (Kossack to Department of Homeland Security Official and Staff, DOJ) (#738 & 741)\r\n \r\n \r\nAug. 22, 2017:\u00a0 \u201cemail re: collecting data from non-state entities\u201d (Kossack to DOJ) (#748)\r\n \r\n \r\nSept. 5, 2017:\u00a0 \u201cemail forwarding link to news article\u201d (DOJ official to McCormick) (#564)\r\n \r\n \r\nSept. 6, 11, 2017:\u00a0 \u201cemails exchange discussing Chicago voting issue\u201d (Third party to McCormick, DOJ official) (#565)\r\n \r\n \r\nSept. 15, 2017: \u201cemail exchange re: sending materials for litigation index\u201d (Kossack to DOJ, King) (#343)\r\n \r\n \r\nUndated:\u00a0 Litigation documents and emails with DOJ (#778)\r\n \r\nWhile some of these entries might be related to the Department\u2019s representation of the Commission in litigation, other entries appear to show that the Department was coordinating with the Commission about data collection and other voting issues.\u00a0 If these communications concern ongoing or contemplated cases or investigations in the Civil Rights Division, they could violate the Administration\u2019s policy limiting contacts between the White House and the Department.[3]\u00a0 Full disclosure of these documents is necessary for Congress to provide appropriate oversight on this issue.\u00a0\r\nThe Vaughn index shows the Department has records of these communications in its possession and should be able to produce them to us without further delay.\u00a0 Accordingly, we respectfully ask that the Department immediately produce records of any and all communications between Department of Justice or Civil Rights Division leadership[4] and the White House, the Office of the Vice President, the White House Counsel\u2019s Office, the Commission, or any of the Commission\u2019s members or representatives, regarding the Commission or its work, either before or after its formation.\r\nWe also repeat our request that the Department respond immediately to the outstanding requests in our above-referenced July 11, 2017 and September 26, 2017 letters.\r\n    \r\n\r\n\r\n[2] https://www.scribd.com/document/360511302/Vaughn-Index#\r\n\r\n\r\n[3] Memo from Donald F. McGahn II, Counsel to the President, to All White House Staff, Communications Restrictions with Personnel at the Department of Justice, January 27, 2017.\r\n\r\n\r\n[4] Including Attorney General Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, former Acting Associate Attorney General/current Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio, former Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler, Acting Assistant Attorney General John Gore, or any other political appointee in the Department.\r\n\r\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t Press Contact \n\t\t\t\tDavid Carle: 202-224-3693\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\t\n\t\n\t\n  \n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/judiciary-democrats-call-on-doj-to-produce-documents-that-may-show-coordination-with-trump-voter-fraud-commission"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.406340092420578, "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"}