DOJ Official Defends Noncitizen Voter Probe on '60 Minutes,' Accuses Show of Editing

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon defended the Trump administration's investigation into noncitizen voters during a recent appearance on CBS' "60 Minutes," while also accusing the program of editing out key portions of her answers. Dhillon stated that the investigation is not intended to sow distrust in the election system, but rather to address existing concerns.

During the interview with "60 Minutes" host Lesley Stahl, Dhillon responded to questions about the purpose of investigating noncitizen voting. Stahl asked if the point was to sow distrust, to which Dhillon replied, "The point is actually the opposite of what you were saying. It's not to sow distrust. The distrust is there. And so, all of these kinds of crimes are being prosecuted now for the first time really, in volume." She also noted that the Biden administration has prosecuted individuals for noncitizen voting.

When Stahl interjected that the numbers were tiny, Dhillon countered that "literally thousands of them are out there that we are looking at." She indicated that investigations take time and that the department has been in office for less than two years, with some investigations ongoing for over a year.

Dhillon reaffirmed the administration's commitment to pursuing every provable case of illegal voting, describing it as a shift from prior administrations that she suggested only focused on widespread or election-altering misconduct. She stated that the department's approach is to investigate every credible lead and prosecute every case supported by evidence.

When asked by Stahl if a noncitizen voting would be considered an irregularity that would lead to a challenge of the vote, Dhillon responded, "I think that would lead to the person's vote being challenged, but not the entire election." Stahl then inquired if Dhillon could rule out a challenge to a state vote. Dhillon replied, "Well, I don't know what is going to happen, but I can tell you that absent some shocking contingency that is unexpected, there should be no interruption in the usual course of counting and certifying the results in the states."

Dhillon later posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she had "set some fake news straight on @60Minutes tonight, though as usual they edit out 95% of the answers." CBS had not immediately responded to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Her comments came after New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill revealed that thousands of noncitizens had been discovered on the state's voter rolls, reportedly through the motor-voter system. The "60 Minutes" interview also addressed concerns about potential challenges to midterm election results, with Dhillon dismissing fears of President Donald Trump challenging the outcomes as "paranoia."