Trump Administration Abandons Election Threats Taskforce, Pivots to Unsubstantiated Noncitizen Voter Fraud Claims

The Trump administration has effectively dismantled key security bodies responsible for investigating direct threats to U.S. elections from foreign actors and domestic terrorists, according to former officials and a recent report. The Justice Department's election threats taskforce, which prosecuted 21 cases between 2021 and 2024, has gone quiet with no new cases brought. The administration also eliminated the FBI's foreign influence taskforce, cut CISA's election security training programs, and reassigned personnel working on foreign election interference. Instead, officials have focused on unsubstantiated claims of widespread noncitizen voter fraud, charging over 90 people with voter-related fraud offenses, including 50 noncitizens in five weeks. Experts warn the loss of federal monitoring and information-sharing leaves local election officials blind to broader threat patterns and removes the deterrent that protected election workers from harassment and violence.