Credible threats to U.S. elections have been overlooked as the Trump administration shifts focus to unverified claims of voter fraud. According to former officials and a recent report, key security bodies meant to investigate direct threats from foreign actors and domestic terrorists have been disbanded.
Overview of the Situation
Between 2021 and 2024, the Justice Department’s election threats taskforce prosecuted 21 cases related to election threats. Notable cases included Solomon Peña, a failed candidate for the New Mexico House of Representatives who organized shootings at the homes of election officials, and Quintez Brown, who opened fire at a campaign meeting for Louisville’s mayor. Both Democrats and Republicans have faced prosecution for harassing and intimidating election workers.
Nikki Fisher, former chief election security officer for the Oregon Secretary of State, now executive director of the Oregon District Attorneys Association, noted that the taskforce has since gone quiet:
“"While officials are being trained to handle threats, the federal deterrent meant to punish the people making them appears to have gone quiet. To date, no new cases have been prosecuted, and the DoJ’s election threats taskforce appears to be defunct in practice."
Disbanding of Investigative Groups
The Trump administration began disbanding election investigative groups almost immediately after the president started his second term. On the first day after Pam Bondi won Senate confirmation as attorney general, she eliminated the FBI’s foreign influence taskforce, which had been investigating influence campaigns by countries like China and Russia. Personnel working on foreign election interference at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) were also fired or reassigned, and funding for CISA’s training program for local officials was cut.
