‘Stop threatening your friends’: Idaho AG’s office bristles at Trump DOJ’s letter
The Idaho Attorney General’s Office has responded to a letter to the state’s top election official from President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice that vowed legal or financial action if noncitizens are allowed to vote — with a strongly worded sentiment: “Stop threatening your friends in Idaho.”
The U.S. Department of Justice recently sent letters to elections officials across the U.S. outlining federal laws that states must follow to prevent noncitizens from voting. The letters, sent on July 7, came as Trump and his allies have pushed for greater federal control in the upcoming midterm election and attempted to restrict mail-in voting.
According to prior Idaho Statesman reporting, the letter offered to help states enforce the applicable federal laws while also warning of possible penalties if they didn’t meet requirements.
“While federal law obviously makes it unlawful for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, … state election officers, including the chief election officer of the state, could be criminally prosecuted for aiding and abetting the violation,” the DOJ letter said.
The Attorney General’s Office, which is representing Secretary of State Phil McGrane in a lawsuit the DOJ filed against dozens of states for voter registration lists in April, chastised federal officials for contacting McGrane directly while the litigation is pending. The letter, signed by Civil Litigation and Constitution Defense Division Chief Jim Craig, said the DOJ violated Idaho’s rules of professional conduct by not communicating with the Attorney General’s Office first.
The letter goes on to say that the DOJ’s “insinuations of criminal violations of the federal elections law are not well taken.”
Craig wrote that Idaho has “taken a leading role in ensuring its voter registration list is purged of noncitizens” and pointed to a comprehensive review McGrane conducted in 2024 to verify Idaho’s 1.1 million registered voters. The letter said no noncitizens voted in any election in Idaho in 2024, and noted the state ran voter rolls through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE system in 2026 to again confirm the citizenship status of registered voters.
The Attorney General’s Office letter said Idaho has referred “approximately 15” cases to the DOJ for prosecution related to noncitizen voter registration. It said McGrane has not received any update on the cases and is unaware of the DOJ taking action against the noncitizens for violating federal law by registering to vote in Idaho.
Craig’s response said the DOJ’s July 7 letter asked how federal officials can help state efforts to meet federal law. Craig said he had “several suggestions,” starting with the terse proposal to “stop threatening your friends in Idaho.”
“Idaho is fully committed to supporting President Trump’s goal of ensuring that only U.S. citizens are registered and actually vote in Idaho,” Craig said.
His next suggestion was the dismissal of the April lawsuit against McGrane over voter rolls, followed by a suggestion to review the cases McGrane referred to the DOJ for prosecution.
“Notably, unlike your unwarranted efforts against Secretary McGrane, criminal prosecutions of the noncitizens actually responsible for breaking the law will do much to deter future noncitizens from illegally registering to vote,” the letter said.
Craig then reiterated that the DOJ should stop any future direct correspondence with the secretary of state.
“We all have the same goals here — to ensure that Idaho’s elections are free, fair and transparent, and that Idaho’s voter registration list includes only U.S. citizens and that only eligible U.S. citizens vote in Idaho’s elections,” Craig said.
