Trump administration accuses Wisconsin of violating federal election law
But the commission's Democratic chairwoman said Thursday there is no federal funding to cut and she disputed accusations raised in a Department of Justice letter a day earlier, saying it would be nonsensical for the commission to determine whether complaints against it were valid.
'What they're asking is, if someone files a complaint against us, we're supposed to hold a hearing to determine if we messed up,' Ann Jacobs said. 'That is not functional.'
It marks the second time in a week that the Trump administration has targeted election leaders in battleground states.
Last week, the Justice Department accused North Carolina's election board of violating federal law by failing to ensure voter registration records of some applicants contained identifying numbers.
The latest letter from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division accused Wisconsin of violating the Help America Vote Act for not having a state-based administrative complaint procedure to address alleged violations by the state elections commission of the 2002 federal law.
Actions by the Wisconsin Elections Commission 'have left complainants alleging HAVA violations by the Commission without any recourse,' attorneys for the Justice Department wrote. 'With no opportunity or means to appeal, complainants are left stranded with their grievances.'
The elections commission just received the letter and has no comment while it is being reviewed, spokesman John Smalley said.
But Jacobs, chairwoman of the commission, said the commission can't decide complaints against itself. Jacobs said that position was backed up by a 2022 ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court when it was controlled by conservatives.
'It appears that they're like, 'How dare you follow state law,'' Jacobs said. 'I don't know what it is they want us to do.'
According to the letter, Wisconsin has received more than $77 million in federal funding from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the Justice Department threatened to stop any future payments. But Jacobs said that money was allocated years ago and the state currently receives no funding from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and none is proposed, leaving nothing to cut.
Nonetheless, the letter could put state funding in jeopardy.
Republican leaders of the state Legislature's budget committee delayed a scheduled Thursday vote on how much state funding the Wisconsin Elections Commission will receive over the next two years.
'Out of caution, we think we're just going to wait and see,' the committee's co-chair Sen. Howard Marklein said. 'We need to analyze this and see what implications are made, maybe for the entire Elections Commission, and what impact that may have on the budget.'
___
Associated Press writer Todd Richmond contributed to this report.
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CBS News
12 minutes ago
- CBS News
Some in Congress want more Jeffrey Epstein material released than White House has sought
Washington — The increasing pressure on the Trump administration to release more details about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein shows little sign of easing soon. It's put President Trump's allies in Congress in a bind as they try to balance the Republican base's demands for the release of all Epstein-related files against the White House's desire to move on. For now, Mr. Trump has asked that only federal grand jury transcripts be made public. One of the Justice Department's requests to unseal grand jury transcripts has been denied. The Trump administration has asked for grand jury transcripts related to investigations into Epstein in 2005 and 2007 in Florida, as well as transcripts related to separate grand juries convened in New York that resulted in charges against Epstein in 2019 and against his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking charges in 2021. Some Republicans have rebelled and are backing efforts to make more details public. Meanwhile, Democrats are fanning the flames by trying to force Republicans to take politically risky votes on the issue and accusing the GOP of trying to hide something. "What are they hiding from the American people? Release the files so that the American people can make a decision on their own," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said this week. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Wednesday that "No one in Congress is blocking Epstein documents." A day earlier, Johnson announced the lower chamber would be heading home early as members clashed over the Epstein issue. A bipartisan effort led by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California to compel the release of Epstein-related files could have enough support to force a floor vote soon after House lawmakers return from their five-week break in September. 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Ralph Norman of South Carolina calls for the release of much of the same documentation, but would carry no legal weight if the Trump administration does not follow through. Epstein died by suicide while in federal custody in Manhattan as he was facing sex trafficking charges in 2019. Prosecutors alleged he exploited and abused dozens of underage girls from 2002 through 2005. In Florida in 2008, he pleaded guilty to two state prostitution charges — one of them for soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. During Mr. Trump's first term, his labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, resigned following criticism of his handling of Epstein's 2008 plea deal when he was a federal prosecutor in Florida. Epstein served 13 months in a jail work-release program after he was originally accused of sexually abusing dozens of girls and young women. Johnson argued the Massie-Khanna effort does not include enough protections for Epstein's victims. He said Congress has a moral and legal obligation "to protect the people who have been the victims of these unspeakable crimes so that their names are not drug through the mud." On Wednesday, three Republicans on a House Oversight subcommittee voted with all Democrats on the panel to subpoena the Justice Department for the Epstein files. The White House has not responded to the latest congressional efforts, although Mr. Trump has referred to the whole saga as a "hoax," as his administration faces criticism over the handling of the Epstein files. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, has been looking into Epstein's financial network for three years and has called on the Trump administration to release the Treasury's records. Last year, the Biden administration allowed committee staff to look at portions of the confidential file. Wyden said it shows more than 4,700 in potentially suspicious wire transfers adding up to nearly $1.1 billion flowing in and out of just one of Epstein's bank accounts and hundreds of millions through other accounts. Wyden sent a letter this week to Attorney General Pam Bondi urging the Justice Department to further investigate Epstein's financial transactions and whether several big banks turned a blind eye to suspicious transfers. The senator's office said the attorney general has not yet responded. The Justice Department has not yet responded to a request for comment. "The Treasury Department's Epstein file contains significant information on the sources of funding behind Epstein's sex trafficking activities," Wyden wrote. "Epstein clearly had access to enormous financing to operate his sex trafficking network, and the details on how he got the cash to pay for it are sitting in a Treasury Department filing cabinet." Lawmakers are also seeking testimony from Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in helping Epstein recruit, groom and abuse underage girls. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence. The House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Maxwell on Wednesday, requesting that she sit for a deposition in August "to inform the consideration of potential legislative solutions to improve federal efforts to combat sex trafficking and reform the use of non-prosecution agreements and/or plea agreements in sex-crime investigations." Todd Blanche, the second-highest ranking official at the Justice Department, is meeting with Maxwell on Thursday at the U.S. attorney's office in Tallahassee. The Justice Department announced earlier this month that a review of evidence in the Epstein case found no indication of a "client list" and said no more files would be released, citing victims' privacy. The decision upset Trump supporters who believe that the federal government has concealed information about Epstein to protect powerful figures.
